Uncertainty
by G-Town Hoya
Summary: While working on a confusing case a psychotic unsub abducts and tortures Emily thinking she's a Russian spy. Is this a case of delusion, mistaken identity, or something else entirely? Will JJ and the team discover the truth and find her in time? JJ/Emily femslash. Includes the entire team. Rated M.
1. Russians in San Francisco

**This work takes place around the end of season 4 and features an already established relationship between Emily and JJ. It's**** a femslash, so if you don't like reading Emily/JJ stories you probably shouldn't read on.**

**Just a warning, this is rated M for a reason. **

**As always I owe none of the charters and appreciate all the readers/reviews. There will be plenty of opportunities for readers to offer predictions about the story, and I always welcome them.**

Her face was bleeding, mixing on the concrete floor with the blood that was consistently dripping from her head. Her eyes were opened but everything was blurry and she didn't know if it was from the frequent blows to the head or the drugs that flowed through her system. She was chained to a wall, forcing her to remain standing through it all, but her body had started to sag. Her hands were bound and hanging above her head, leaving her body vulnerable from his frequent beatings. Her head pounded as the blaring heavy metal music continued. All she wanted was for it to be over, all she wanted was to go home to JJ. She didn't want to do this anymore, she couldn't do this anymore. But she had made a promise to JJ a few months prior. She had promised that she would be okay, and giving up and dying would most certainly not be keeping that promise. She cringed when she noticed that the music had stopped. _He _walked through the door and moved from within mere inches of her face.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU TELL THEM?!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as Emily shuddered, the noise only further exasperating her migraine. "ELIZABETA!"

"I don't know what you're talking about" Emily confessed as she felt another blow connect to her body, this time her ribs.

"DON'T LIE TO ME!"

"I'M NOT" She struggled to get out over the pain.

"Okay then, we're going to have to go about a different way of doing this aren't we not darling?" He informed her as he smiled evilly before continuing, "Let's try a few ideas I got from that Russian prison you sent me to. How does that sound love?"

"I don't know you! I didn't send you anywhere!"

He didn't bother to reply to her defense and just walked out of the door briefly. She shivered as her thoughts went back to JJ.

* * *

2 DAYS EARLIER

"Thanks Hotch, see you on the plane" JJ replied back as she hung up the phone. She looked over to the sleeping brunette and lightly kissed her exposed shoulder. "Em, you need to get up." She lightly nudged the brunette, who was most definitely not the most jovial person in the mornings. "Baby we have a case."

"Why can't people just stop murdering everyone?" Emily complained into her pillow with a grumpy tone.

"I know" JJ coaxed as she rubbed Emily's back. "Come darling on you have to get up."

"Fine, but don't call me darling."

"Why not?" JJ asked in a hurt tone.

"My mother does" Emily chuckled as she got off the bed and started to get redressed. Fortunately for her she always had her go bag with her. Unfortunately for her she didn't have a lot of clean clothing left in it, so she was going to have to do the walk of shame, into a confined space, with a group of profilers. She wished that she had brought more clothes over to JJ's house, as all the clothes she had there currently were dirty. Emily sighed as she looked at the clothes on the floor and JJ figured out what bothered her.

"You should borrow something of mine, again" she offered.

"You are a life saver" Emily exclaimed as JJ handed her a pair of dark pants and a white shirt that Emily could pair with her charcoal grey jacket. "I should start leaving more clothes here" Emily commented as she bit the bottom of her lip.

"Or we should just move in together" JJ suggested. "I mean it's been seven months and we basically live together as it is."

"We could get a cat!" Emily exclaimed in excitement. "But where are we going to live?"

"I don't care, I guess we could live in your apartment."

"You guess?" Emily could see the hesitation on JJ's face. "Do you not like my apartment? I won't be offended if you don't."

"It's not that. It's amazing" JJ confessed as she shook her head. "I just, don't get freaked out. But it's not very child friendly."

"And we don't have children."

JJ finished getting dressed and worried that she had picked the wrong time for this discussion. In fact the couple had never talked about children after Emily revealed to JJ that it was impossible for her to ever carry a child. JJ knew it was a sore subject, but she also knew that sometime in the future she wanted there to be a possibility of children. She meant what she said on that plane almost a year and a half ago, she could see Emily with kids. Their kids. "I know" she quietly spoke.

"JJ, do you think we can talk about this when we aren't rushing off to find a serial killer?" Emily asked with a smile.

"Yeah."

"And I'm sorry that I can't…" Emily trailed off as she JJ enveloped her in a hug.

"Don't ever feel like you have to apologize for that" JJ whispered as she pulled back, allowing Emily to finish getting ready. "You are so hot. How did I ever get you?" JJ mumbled as she saw Emily quickly brush her hair.

"Yeah because you're basically an ogre" Emily quipped as she quickly kissed JJ before rushing out of the bedroom to get her go bag from the living room. JJ just laughed at the statement as she grabbed the last of her things and headed out the door.

* * *

After the plane ascended and the team was all seated Hotch began briefing them. "We're headed to San Francisco. As of now there is very little we have on this case. San Francisco PD has identified seven bodies of men…"

"Seven? Hotch why are they just calling us now?" Morgan asked already frustrated by the case.

"Because as I said earlier, there is very little to go on. The first four bodies belong to local members of the Russia mob based in the greater San Francisco area, Aleksei Dmitriev aged 26, Igor Bolokhovsis aged 34, Viktor Aleksandrov aged 31, and Borris Aleksandrov aged 42."

"Brothers?" JJ inquired curiously.

"Cousins, the other three bodies belonged to correctional officers working at San Quentin State Prison. They were Ryan Matskevich aged 30, Joseph Oborski aged 56, and Jackson Reznikov aged 26."

"How do they connect other than the obvious Russian last names?" Emily asked as she shuffled through the case files in front of her.

"A local detective, Detective Eliot Meyer, concluded that like Prentiss said all the men were off Russian descent. That's the only connection we have so far."

"They also had Russian surnames, so our unsub may or may nor know them personally. If it is an instance of hate crimes of course" Rossi answered.

"I don't know Hotch, Russian last names? Seems like kind of a flimsy connection" Morgan countered.

"We've had unsubs who've killed with less" Emily shrugged.

"Guys I hate to say this but outside of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Miami, San Francisco has one of the largest Russian American presences in the country. How are we supposed to narrow down our victim pool when our unsub appears to focus on men with Russian names that are not in set age group" Reid asked perplexed by this case. Something about it didn't make sense, why was the unsub so indiscriminate about his killings?

"Cause of death?" Morgan asked, ignoring Reid's questioning.

"All shot execution style" Hotch answered as he thought back to Reid's concerns.

"So he wasn't invested in their pain" Emily surmised as she looked over to JJ who looked exceptionally sweaty.

JJ just shook her head at Emily's concerned look and spoke up, "Hotch how I am supposed to brief the press without inciting panic? I can't just say that we have a serial killer that's trying to kill Russians."

"Especially since that's not what he's doing" Hotch answered as he gazed over to Rossi who nodded in agreement. "Male criminals and correctional officers is a good place to start a profile."

"Maybe he was imprisoned" JJ offered with a shrug.

"Garcia when we land check prison records, maybe someone who had a bad run in with Russian gangs" Hotch ordered to the technical analyst who was surprisingly quiet.

"Yes sir" she replied as she turned back to observe Emily and JJ.

"Good, when we land I want JJ to brief the press. Reid work out a geological profile. Rossi meet with the M.E., make sure we didn't miss anything. Morgan and I will head up to San Quentin and Prentiss I want you to work with Detective Meyer, he'll be waiting for you at the precinct. That's all for now" Hotch concluded as he went to sit back down next to Rossi.

"So buttercup are you feeling all right? You look kind of flushed and sweaty" Garcia asked, her voice laden with concern.

"Yeah I noticed that too, you okay?" Emily added she looked over to Morgan who nodded in agreement.

"I have a little bit of a headache and I'm tired but what else is new?" JJ answered as Emily lightly touched her forehead with the back of her hand.

"I think PG is right. I think you're sick. You're really hot, PG feel her forehead."

Garcia leaned over and lightly brushed JJ's check, "Yeah sweetness you're burning up."

"Goddamn it" JJ huffed.

"How do you feel?" Emily gently asked as Garcia ordered Reid to get JJ a bottle of water.

"Fine."

"JJ…"

"I don't feel good" JJ pouted with her arms crossed, much like a fussy child.

"Well that went downhill fast" Emily joked as Morgan and Garcia started to laugh.

"Sounds like someone is going to play a little nurse and patient tonight eh Princess" Morgan winked as he nudged Garcia who was nodding and made a bitting motion with her teeth.

"You both have issues. Hotch I think JJ has the flu" Emily snapped after giving them a dirty look.

"I'm fine" JJ protested.

"Actually JJ you don't look fine, in fact you look terrible. Your skin is abnormally red, your eyes are glassy, and you appear to be especially sweaty" Reid added hoping to help. However, his helpfulness was met with a glare from JJ, who swatted at Emily who was laughing.

"JJ you're going directly the hotel when we land, craft a statement for the press from there and have Garcia send it to Prentiss' tablet. Prentiss before you head out with Meyers brief the press. Garcia can you work from the hotel and keep an eye on JJ temporarily?" Hotch not so much as asked but ordered.

"Oh great, stick me with patient zero" Garcia complained, earning herself a glare from Hotch. "I mean, I can do that"

"Good. Due to rooming costs the Bureau has requested us to double up, as the hotel I requested for the proximity to the station is fairly costly. If it isn't too much of an inconvenience I was going to ask that the female agents triple up, is that an issue Prentiss?"

"Why are you only asking her" Garcia asked pointedly.

"Because I have to share a bed with that" Emily chuckled as she pointed over to a scowling and flu-ridden JJ.

"You're already exposed you big baby" JJ snarled to the amusement of the team.

"It's fine" Emily replied to Hotch, ignoring JJ's comment entirely.

"Okay then it's settled. Remember your assignments, we land in 3 hours" He ordered as JJ curled into Emily and fell asleep. Blissfully unaware of the horrors that would occur in the next 24 hours.

**Should I continue this story or move on to something else? **

**Does Emily know this unsub or is she being honest with him? ****Who is Elizabeta? How will JJ being sick play into this? ****Any Predictions?**

**Just a hint, this is pre-Doyle and in no way involves him. As of now he is still nice and cozy in a North Korean prison. **


	2. Nothing Adds Up

**The chapter largely serves to set up the case before Emily is kidnapped, which will be happening very soon. ****  
**

**If you're still wondering what's going on you need not worry, I have a set plan and everything will come together in the end. I already have this work outlined and know how everything is going to pan out. I will not leave you hanging. **

** When making predictions keep in mind that nothing is as it seems in this story. **

Once the plane landed the team dispersed, leaving on their separate ways. Hotch and Morgan left in a SVU to head to the prison, JJ and Garcia were driven by a local police officer to the hotel, while Reid, Rossi, and Emily headed to the centrally located precinct.

"So buttercup what can I do for you to help expedite your recovery" Garcia asked with a sweet smile after sending JJ's statement to Emily.

"Bed" was all JJ replied as she crawled into the middle of the bed closest to the window and went to sleep.

"Well this is going to be fun" Garcia sarcastically commented as she started to set up her computers and began to sift through prison records to look for a connection. She was disappointed as there appeared to not be a single connection. There was seldom a time when the team had no idea where to begin, but for reason this case was different. Emily had said something earlier about it feeling off, but Garcia couldn't get the brunette to elaborate. It was times like this when she felt most useless, unable to help the team as she waited for them to call her and ask her to do a search. To curb her boredom she walked over to the small kitchenette area of the room to make JJ a cup of tea. At least she had something to do she mused as she started to fill up a mug with water.

* * *

"Detective Meyer?" Emily asked as she walked into the police precinct conference room with Reid.

"Eliot" a man replied back outstretching his hand. He was in his mid-fifties, a little overweight, with blue eyes and receding salt and pepper hair.

"I'm SSA Emily Prentiss and this is Dr. Reid" Emily replied professionally as she motioned over to Reid who nodded his head and went back to setting up his white board and maps. "He's preoccupied I apologize. Other than the victim's last names all being of Russian origin do you have anything that wasn't in the files you sent over?"

"Not much I'm afraid. Umm, I do know that all the mob men worked for the same boss, Vladimir Polovski but that's all I have so far."

"Is there anyway we can meet with Polovski or anyone else who might know the victims?"

Meyer sighed in frustration, "Polovski won't talk to us without a warrant. But, there's supposed to be an undercover cop on the inside. Vice told me he's trying to get in contact with an old informant who might talk to us. It's going to take time."

"Well we don't have time" Emily replied back, a little more curt than she meant to.

"Don't I know it, but the brass doesn't want to risk an undercover op for four dead mobsters and 3 dead COs. They don't find it valuable enough."

Emily nodded her head in understanding. She knew better than anyone the politics of the job. "I get it, I really do. Here's my card, call me when you get the go ahead."

Meyer took the card and smiled, "I will. I hope those case reports can help you. What are we looking at so far? I did some googling on what you all do with your profiling, do you have anything yet?"

"I wish I could tell you I did. Male in his 30s-40s, possibly was in prison, definitely had a run in with the Russian mob's pretense while on the inside if he was incarcerated. The guards either allowed the abuse or engaged in it themselves. Other than that, it's hard to say who we're looking for. But I really have to brief the press" she confessed as she gathered her things to head out of the room.

"Yeah well good luck with that" Meyer chuckled as he followed her out of the room and took a seat at his desk in the bullpen of the police station.

* * *

Morgan and Hotch walked through the prison security and processing room and to wait for the assistant warden Matthew McMurphy. A few minutes later an impeccably dressed man in his early forties who looked to be gunning for a promotion appeared before them.

"Mr. McMurphy I am SSA Aaron Hotchner and this is SSA Derek Morgan and we're here to talk to you about the deaths of officers Matskevich, Oborski, and Reznikov."

"Thank you for being here" the man said in a genuine tone as he firmly shook the agents' hands. "They were good correctional officers."

"Mr. McMurphy I don't want you to read too much into this question but did they have any run-ins with any prisoners? Maybe have any prisoners claim that they got a bit rough?" Morgan asked in the most respectful manner he could come up with.

McMurphy shook his head before speaking up, "No. Listen I'll admit that sometimes we need to get firm with the prisoners but these guys, Ryan and Jackson especially, they just didn't do that. They reported any instances of violence again any prisoners, they were good guys and I wouldn't say that about just everyone who works here. They were almost too good for this place if you know what I mean. They all had kids and it's a stable job that can pay the bills."

"Were there any prisoners that had disagreements with them, any complaints launched?" Hotch asked hopefully.

"Every CO has some sort of threats made against them. Comes with the job, I'll get you those files" McMurphy offered as he walked off.

"What do you think?" Morgan questioned Hotch, who took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes.

"I think that we have nothing, and until we have a name there is no point in approaching the Russian mob connections in here." Morgan simply nodded in response as McMurphy returned with three file folders full of complaints and threats. "Thank you" Hotch responded as the two men left. "Let's go ahead and check out the first crime scene and then head back."

"Okay but Hotch I don't think we're going to see anything new. It just looked a normal breaking and entering followed by an execution style shooting. He was precise, he didn't make any mistakes."

"We should confirm it anyway" Hotch instructed as they entered into the black SVU and headed to the home of Aleksei Dmitriev, the first murder victim. Dmitriev had been killed while his mother was away, shot in the back of the head while watching TV. ME reports had said that it had at least been a painless death. But Hotch kept thinking about the manner in which he was killed, how clean it was, how perfect it was. Would this unsub ever get messy?

After arriving at the crime scene it appeared that Morgan was right. It appeared to be a normal breaking and entering where the unsub entered through a back door. Dmitriev's time of death was about 7:45pm so it was approximately ten to fifteen minutes before then when the unsub would have broken in, breaking the glass panel in the back door to unlock it from the inside. It had been 10 days since Dmitriev was killed and most of the crime scene had been tamped with, much to the annoyance of Hotch and Morgan.

"If there was anything here it's gone now" Morgan huffed after walking through the property.

"It wouldn't matter, the unsub didn't stay. It was all about getting in and killing Dmitriev for whatever reason. I don't get what the connection could be outside of Russian last names."

"I don't know Hotch but this case, it's a fucking mess and I don't say that lightly. This unsub is motivated to kill these men, he must have stalked them to know their sleeping patterns or when their family was out, but they just don't connect and I don't think it's a hate crime. Why kill them? Why bother?"

"It's not a hate crime, it's too reserved. This unsub isn't trying to make a point, for now anyway."

* * *

"I also want to thank the San Francisco Police Department for allowing us to assist on this case. We will be looking forward to helping them to find whoever committed these crimes" Emily said as she concluded her statement and walked away from the podium, ignoring the multitude of questions that were being thrown her way. "Fucking vultures" she mumbled as she sank down into the chair next to Reid.

"That bad?"

"That bad."

"I'm sure you did good" he said sweetly with a smile.

"I didn't pull my gun on them so I consider that a success."

"Meyer have anything for you?" Reid asked finally looking up from the map he had been working on.

"Nope. You have anything yet?" She asked hopefully.

"Considering all the victims were found in their homes I'm not finding any help geologically. And Hotch called earlier to say that they couldn't find any connection between the guards and abusing prisoners. They might have to go back after we get a name but right now San Quentin isn't helping us on this case."

Emily sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Something about this case is just bothering me. It's like our unsub doesn't care about the victims unless they're Russian or fit into whatever past he had. He's almost indiscriminate. It's almost as if these people are just surrogates for him. Which is bad because…"

"Because he may not be from here and it'll be impossible to narrow down unless we have a location parameter for Garcia to search with" Reid interjected, finishing Emily's thoughts.

"Any chance he could be Russian?"

"What do you mean?"

Emily ran her hands through her head as she shot up in her chair, "Okay so our mobsters weren't into anything bad, for the mob anyway. Our COs weren't abusive and they probably weren't connected to the mob or Garcia would have found something in their financials, right?"

"Right."

"So all our unsub cares about is the fact that they are Russian prison guards and mobsters. What if they are surrogates but it matters that they are Russian not because of a hate crime but because he himself is Russian?"

"So he would have interacted with them back in his home country…"

"And it would be impossible to exact revenge on them there unless he went back…"

"So he finds surrogates for them here!" Reid exclaimed excitedly. Just as he was about to call Hotch to let him know about their newest lead Emily interrupted him.

"Fuck!"

"What?'

"How much do you want to bet that a Russian criminal is not going to get through immigration?" Emily asked rhetorically.

"He's not" Reid sighed in disappointment. "Shit, it made so much sense."

"Didn't it? Unsub spent time looking for Russian prison guards and gangsters to punish the men who fucked him over in the home country. This case is, something is just off about it."

"Yeah."

An exhausted Emily took a sip of coffee and looked at her watch, "I'm on DC time."

"Me too" he groaned as they looked over to the clock that only read 5pm. They had just come off a case and in theory were supposed to be taken off rotation. In reality though they had been the first team that Strauss called in. They shouldn't have been that tired, but they were running on empty before the case even started, and it was turning out to be a difficult case. "How did he know about the prison guards?"

"They were killed after the mobsters, maybe they were his means to finding them" Emily guessed as she re-read the case reports.

* * *

"I have nothing" Rossi declared as he walked into the conference room.

"M.E.?" Emily grumbled.

"Shot execution style, all but one of the mafia men, the younger cousin, looked to be asleep when shot. Younger cousin was watching TV. All the correctional guards were also seated and probably awake. No signs of torture, not signs of drugs in the system. Nothing, this guy is clean" Rossi complained as he took a seat.

"So he knows what he's doing? Maybe he's done it before" Reid cut in.

"Maybe that's how our unsub got his invitation into prison."

Rossi nodded at Emily's wager and looked over to Reid, "How far out are Hotch and Morgan?"

"They were going to check out one of the victim's home, but they said we should just finish up here about 6 and head to the hotel. Check out the crime scenes and conduct victim interviews in the morning."

"Where were the families?" Emily asked she rose up from her chair and began to pace.

"What?" Reid asked as Rossi smiled.

"The men aren't connected, the families are" She answered back firmly. She was hoping that she might have just found a connection.

Rossi cut in, "We need to talk to Garcia. Emily run this over with her when you get back to the room. Let's head out for the night."

* * *

"Hey Garcia" an exhausted Emily greeted as she entered into the hotel room to find Garcia typing on her computers and JJ fast asleep in bed. "How is she" She asked motioning over to JJ.

"Fine, she didn't do much all day. She did have some tea and soup. How about you gumdrop? You look exhausted, have you eaten all day?"

"I don't even remember" Emily confessed as she sat on Garcia's bed and took some files of out her bag. "We need you to find any connections between the families of our victims and…"

"I'm going to have to do it tomorrow, my poor babies are working on overtime to try to filter through a mess of criminal threats made against our correctional officers" Garcia admitted apologetically.

Emily just smiled at her friend, "That's fine. Tomorrow you'll have to work with Reid though because Meyer told me that he has some contacts from the Russian underworld that are willing to talk to us. Hopefully that won't turn to shit too. You should step away for the night, you're obviously not finding anything."

"No, nothing Russian related at all. I don't know but this case…"

"Is an absolute clusterfuck" Emily completed with a laugh.

"What do you think is going on?"

"I honestly have no idea. The only thing that makes sense to me is that our unsub was in a Russian prison but there is no way immigration would allow someone with that history into the country. It's the only thing that makes sense but it makes no sense" Emily complained as she rubbed her tired eyes.

"You need to relax gumdrop. Take a shower and I'll order us some dinner" Garcia kindly offered. She could see the stress about the case and JJ wearing on the brunette. "Whatever you feel like eating, but I get to pick the TV."

"Thanks PG, whatever you want is fine. Just order me whatever you're having" Emily requested as she dragged herself off of the bed and into the bathroom. Something about this case wasn't sitting right with her. She had a bad feeling about it, and she didn't know why. That was the worst part, wondering why. Was it a premonition? She hoped not as she shook the thoughts from her head and entered into the hot shower.

* * *

After watching TV with Garcia and having dinner, Emily crawled into bed with JJ, who radiated heat like a furnace.

"Hey baby" JJ mumbled into the pillow as she felt Emily enter the bed and curl up next to her.

"How are you?"

"Shitty."

"I'm sorry" Emily offered as she kissed JJ's left temple.

"How was your day? How was the media?"

"A fucking nightmare" Emily admitted much to the amusement of JJ.

"Welcome to my world. It'll get better."

"Just make sure you get better so I don't have to do it anymore" Emily chuckled.

"Anything new on the case?"

"Nothing. Not a fucking thing."

"What are you thinking?"

"That this case doesn't make any sense" Emily said as she took a deep breath. "You need to sleep."

"So do you" JJ said as she drifted back to sleep after exchanging 'I love you's with Emily. Garcia took the hint and turned off the TV that was beginning to air the evening news. The evening news that a certain dark-haired man was watching. The evening news that featured Emily giving a press conference as the lead story.

"Elizabeta" he muttered as an evil grin spread across his face. "I have been looking for you. I see that you've switched teams _again_. Fool me once shame on you, and you've already fooled me once" he said as he cracked his knuckles in anticipation.

**Emily giving the press conference is part of what puts her in danger, but what else is going on? Any predictions on who Elizabeta is? Throughout the story I welcome predictions.**

**A lot happens in the next chapter. **


	3. Emily's Missing

**To any wondering how JJ's bout of illness comes into play, it is because of JJ being sick that Emily is forced to do the press conference, which is how the unsub finds her. **

**Is Meyer a dirty cop? Can Emily trust him?**

"Coffee" Emily asked the worn out group who pointed to the pot resting on a paper towel in the middle of the conference room table. "Who knew you all were such homemakers?"

"It's too early for your heckling Prentiss" Morgan complained with a small smile.

"So what do we have so far?" Hotch asked as he briskly walked into the room.

"ME said that all victims were shot at point-blank range, no signs of overkill, torture or even a struggle. Ballistics seem to point to all the mobsters, except for Dmitriev, being shot while lying down. Time of death was approximately 3am so they were probably killed while asleep. Dmitriev and all the correctional officers were shot while sitting or standing during the hours between 7 and 9pm" Rossi spoke up.

"Geological profile is useless in this scenario and profile-wise Emily and I have nothing except to add to what we already had on the plane" a disappointed Reid remarked.

"I just got off the phone with baby girl and none of our prison leads panned out so we have nothing there either. It turns out that none of them connected to anything remotely Russian. None of our vics were dirty either."

Emily sighed at the lack of information and hoped that her day with Meyer would yield some results. "Meyer and I are going to check out some leads with informants in Polovski's crew down in Russian Hill so I'll let you know what we find."

"Okay, Morgan and Reid hit the correctional officers homes and speak with the families, Garcia is running some information about a possible connection from Prentiss for you. Dave and I will try to see what we can get out of the families of the mobsters and filter through the crimes scenes."

Emily scoffed, "Russian mob families talking to feds? Good luck with that."

"Thank you" Hotch said, ignoring her sarcasm as she laughed. "How's JJ?"

"Sleeping, I think she's doing better. Or I least hope so because there is no way in hell I want to do another press conference. I'll call you all if I find anything" she smiled as she walked out of the door to meet up with Meyer. "What do we have?"

"I found some people willing to talk, we're going to Chinatown" Meyer said as he gathered his things into a small portfolio, preparing to head out.

"I thought we were going to Russian Hill?"

"The guys like to eat breakfast at some place in Chinatown" Meyer shrugged as the two walked out of the police precinct and into Meyer's car.

"So Meyer let me ask you, why do you think these guys willing to talk to you? It's obvious that if Polovski ever found out they were helping the cops and a fed they'd be dead, families would probably be too." Emily was worried that this little meeting might be a trap. She had no reason to believe that Meyer's sources were not trustworthy, well other than the fact that they were Russian mobsters, but she had a bad feeling about his case. It sat with her and she couldn't shake the feeling.

"Sometimes we humans like to try our luck, test things to see if they're true for us."

"Everyone wants to think they're the exception to the rule" Emily added as she looked out of the car window to watch the still rising sun.

"You stay in a lot of hotel rooms right?"

Emily smiled, "You don't know the half of it."

"You know those little sprinklers that are in the ceiling?" Emily nodded as Meyer continued on while driving, or trying to through the rush hour traffic. "So a long time ago I take my girlfriend at the time to this little place out in San Marino and she notices the sprinkler that warns not to touch it with a clothes hanger. But she wonders what would happen if she just touched it with her finger. She wanted to know for herself…"

"Oh no" Emily giggled as a smile spread across her face.

"I lost a two hundred-dollar deposit on that room!" Meyer ranted as Emily started to laugh.

"Wait, you said girlfriend 'at the time' did you break up with her after that?"

Meyer sighed at the question, "No…I married her" he confessed as the car erupted into a fit of laughter again. "Sometimes we just have to test boundaries, and that's what these guys are doing. They want to prove that they are the exception. But you're the profiler so I bet you already knew that." The rest of the drive was fairly quiet, well on Emily's side because all Meyer could talk about was his wife and retiring to Santa Fe. "You have anyone special?" He asked as they waited in line at a traffic stop.

"Yes" Emily responded without missing a beat as she looked up from the files about the informant that Meyer had set up the meeting with. He had served jail time twice, once for assault and once for attempted murder. But he was older and higher ranking in Polovski's crew, so he didn't fit the profile. Or she hoped he didn't at least.

"Married?"

"No."

"Want to be?"

"I don't know. I don't think either of us really cares about the paper."

Meyer chuckled, "I wish Cindy hadn't, would have saved me twenty grand. Kids?"

"Nope."

"You want them?"

"I don't know" Emily honestly answered as her phone went off.

"Saved by the bell" Meyer chuckled under his breath as Emily answered the phone.

"Prentiss."

"I found that connection gumdrop. It turns out that all of your correctional officer's wives and Aleksei's mother went to the same synagogue. They were at a weekly meeting and a group gathering on the nights that the men were killed. There was a service on Wednesday night every week and a mixer on Monday night. Dmitriev, Matskevich, and Oborski were all killed on Wednesday nights each a week apart. I don't get how anyone could miss that. Reznikov was killed during the Monday open house thing, three days before Oborski's funeral. I don't get how the local detectives could miss that either. It's right there, it should have been in the case files."

"Yeah it's something" Emily said cryptically as she looked over to Meyer. "Send that to Morgan."

"Already did princess raven locks. Garcia out."

"Bye Garcia" Emily chuckled as she hung up the phone.

"Find anything?" Meyer asked.

"Four of the victim's families went to the same church. They were all killed on nights when there was events, which is why the family wasn't there."

"Fuck" Meyer groaned in embarrassment.

"What?"

"I knew they were at church functions but I didn't check if it was the same church because I thought there was no way they'd all be connected that easily. No one from the synagogue came forward either. During the interview the families didn't specify and I didn't ask. Fucking rookie mistake."

"Yeah well it happens" Emily offered with a kind voice.

"Not to me Agent. I'm a year out of retiring, I know better."

"Let's just focus on these leads. We need to keep a clear head. We need to know if there was any bad blood over mafia relations."

"Okay, yeah, you're right" he conceded as they parked in a dingy Chinatown alleyway that was full of trash bags and empty boxes. "Okay so our man is supposed to meet us inside" he informed her as he pointed to a small restaurant that didn't look to be open. "They're not open for anyone but Polovski's guys so stay vigilant" he warned. He didn't trust this informant either, but it was the only lead he had.

Emily nodded and as soon as she left the car she felt a sharp pain in the back of the head before everything went black. Meyer had heard a thump and turned around only to be met with the barrel of the gun and a grinning man, who fired the gun and shot him in the shoulder. The unknown man quickly dragged Emily's body into the trunk of his nearby car and injected her with some sort of drug before closing the trunk door and driving away. Seconds later an older Chinese man ran out of the neighboring building screaming as someone else called 911. In his last moments Meyer thought of his wife, his three children, and Emily Prentiss, who the unsub seemed thrilled about taking. The abduction was a risky move, and he just didn't seem to care. _Why did he want her so bad? _He questioned as he drifted out of consciousness.

* * *

"Are you sure? Fuck, someone's going to have to tell Cindy. No, no I will. Did he go out there alone? Are you sure?! And she wasn't there? She wasn't at the scene. Are you sure?! You need to be fucking sure she's a federal agent! Well you need to fucking find her! Shit I'll tell Hotchner" Captain Hawthorne yelled as she slammed the phone on to the receiver. She picked up the phone and slammed it again for good measure. Captain Hawthorne was an African-American woman in her early forties with short hair pulled into a bun, wearing an obligatory black suit. She observed the bullpen of her precinct through her glass window and dreaded having to tell them that their most cherished veteran detective was just killed. Killed a year away from retiring. Only an uniformed unit and one other detective knew so far. She exited her office and walked into the small conference room the FBI unit was using as a workspace. She was both surprised and mildly irritated to find no one inside. "Where is the BAU team?" She asked an uniformed officer as he walked by.

"They went out ma'am, I think one agent was with Meyer" he offered ignorantly.

Hawthorne just nodded and walked back to her office to call Hotch. "Agent Hotchner this is Captain Hawthorne."

"Has there been another body?"

"Yes agent, Detective Meyer was shot and killed in Chinatown before he was supposed to meet with a Russian mob informant. Agent Hotchner, Agent Prentiss was with him, she's not there. She wasn't at the scene."

"What do you mean?" He asked slightly panicked as he looked over to Rossi who was still combing through the crime scene. _  
_

"There is no sign of her anywhere. There was a small amount of blood near the passenger side car door. As of now we believe she has been taken by the perpetrator. Detective Meyer bled out in the ambulance, he wasn't able to offer any information. No one saw the man or a car. I'm trying to see if there's any security footage but, it's not looking good. I am sorry."

"It's, it's fine." Hotch knew it wasn't fine. He had no idea how he was going to tell the team, no idea how they were going to solve the case down one of their brightest agents, no idea how he was going to tell JJ. But what do you say in a situation like this? "I need to gather my team."

"Anything you need is at your disposal" Captain Hawthorne said with a sigh, "I need to call Eliot's wife."

"Of course" Hotch replied as he hung up the phone and began to dial Morgan. "Morgan Emily's gone. The unsub has her."

**What is the connection with the Russian mob? Is there any?**

**Who will be tasked with telling JJ that Emily is gone?**


	4. Telling JJ

Morgan and Reid were just headed towards the house of the first victim's family for an interview when Morgan's phone rang. For a second he thought about silencing it, but knew he had to answer it.

"Morgan."

"Morgan Emily's gone. The unsub has her" Hotch informed Morgan in the same monotone he always used. However, something about his voice was marginally different, and a nearby Rossi could tell that the façade of an unaffected unit chief was fractured.

"WHAT?" Morgan screamed as he kicked the SUV, startling Reid who had stopped walking up the sidewalk.

"She was with Meyer and the unsub took her after he killed Meyer."

"FUCK!"

"Morgan you need to calm down…"

"CALM DOWN? MY FUCKING PARTNER IS MISSING AND YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN!" Morgan shouted into the phone almost hysterically. That was all Reid needed to hear to know what had happened. He thought back to his time with Tobias Hankel and began to worry more and more about Emily, and JJ. Who was going to tell JJ?

"Morgan you need to stay calm. We need you to remain calm so we can find her."

"I need to tell Penelope."

"Morgan" Hotch warned.

"She has to hear it from me and JJ has to hear it from her" Morgan pleaded over the phone.

"I don't know if that's a good idea."

"No Hotch she has to" Morgan replied in a firmer voice than he should have used with his superior.

Okay" Hotch agreed as Rossi walked up, having already figured out what had happened. Rossi felt sick about it. He and Emily had become close, especially after Matthew's death. It was only him and JJ that she had opened up to and now she was gone. She was taken by a ruthless unsub that they had no way of catching. Rossi was shaken from his thoughts as Hotch continued on, "Meet us at the precinct. Right now we need to get a profile together. We don't know how much time we have."

"Okay" Morgan agreed as he hung up the phone and slammed the car door in anger. "Reid you need to drive" he ordered as he pulled his phone back out and took a deep breath before dialing, taking a seat on the front passenger side of the car.

* * *

"Hello my chocolate Adonis what can I do for, or to you?" Garcia asked cheerfully as she picked up the phone.

"Penelope is JJ there with you?" He asked in a stern tone. Garcia immediately picked up on both Morgan's tone and him calling her Penelope, and she knew it must have been about Emily.

"She's taking a shower. What's wrong with Emily?"

"You need to stay calm for JJ okay? You need to promise her that we will get her back."

"Back?" Garcia choked out as the tears began to fall.

"We're going to find her baby girl, but we need you to track her phone and tell JJ what happened."

"Derek what happened?"

"Detective Meyer was killed and she was taken. We don't know anything else."

"Derek I-I need to go and track her phone" Garcia confessed as she started to furiously type on her keyboards. "It's not emitting a signal."

"What does that mean baby girl?"

"It means that he either destroyed the phone or disabled the signal. Derek I can't find her."

"We will" he reassured her as he looked over to Reid who was clutching the steering wheel with white knuckles. "We're going to meet at the precinct, I'll keep you informed. Take care of JJ" Morgan instructed as he hung up the phone.

* * *

Garcia tried to make herself presentable as an exhausted JJ walked out of the bathroom. "I don't know why I'm so tired from a shower. This flu is a bitch."

"Jayje" Garcia softly said as she got the other woman's attention.

"Yeah? Are you okay Pen? You look like you've been crying."

"Honey you need to sit down."

"Why?"

"JJ."

"Why do I need to sit down?" JJ asked loudly. "What aren't you telling me?" JJ knew in her heart that it had to be something about Emily. It was always Emily.

"Emily is…"

"What about Emily? What happened to Emily?"

"Sweetie, the unsub shot Meyer and took her."

"What?" JJ asked in a state of shock. This couldn't be happening. How could this happen? Who was supposed to be protecting Emily? Where was Morgan?

"We're going to find her."

"Well than why isn't anyone doing anything?!"

"We're waiting for them to have something."

"You need to find her!" JJ ordered as she started to break down. She knew how these things typically ended. It was a horrible thing to say but Reid was lucky with Hankel. FBI agent abductions almost always resulted in fatalities. "We have to help her" she said as she stated to sob and crumpled into a ball on the bed.

"We will, we're going to find her."

"S-she promised me she'll always be okay" JJ said through her tears as Garcia enveloped her into a hug.

"I know, she will be. She will be" Garcia coaxed until she answered her phone. "Garcia."

"Garcia we're going to run point on this from the hotel. There's not much reason to be at the precinct when all your computers are set up at the hotel. We can't waste the time to move them and we need to make sure someone's with JJ at all times. Rossi and I are headed to the abduction site and Morgan and Reid are going to meet you in your room."

"Okay and sir?"

"Yes Garcia?"

"Thank you."

Hotch sighed on the other side of the line as him and Dave rushed to the newest crime scene. "She's family, we're going to get her back."

"I'll take care of our girl here."

"Good" Hotch said as he hung up the phone.

"JJ they're going to find her. Derek and Spencer are coming to help us" Garcia softly said to JJ.

"Okay" JJ quietly responded as she looked over to see Emily's go bag in the corner of the hotel room. "I didn't say it this morning, before she left."

"What honey?"

"I didn't say I loved her" JJ said barely above as whisper as she looked down to her hands.

"She knows" Garcia assured as she waited for Morgan and Reid to arrive.

* * *

Emily awoke to a pounding in her head. She could almost hear her heart beating through the pain. The persistent dripping that cut through the otherwise eerily quiet concrete room would have almost been comforting, if it wasn't the sound of blood dripping from her head. She realized that she was chained by her hands above her head and that she was standing, or trying to anyway. The metal cuffs cut through her skin every time she tried to struggle against them. The room she was in was dark, except for a single light hanging from the ceiling. The room was freezing cold and she was grateful that she was still wearing most of her clothes. Her jacket was gone along with her shoes, but at least she was decent. He must have been watching her because only moments after she awoke he entered in through the room's only door, the only exit point.

He was about 6 feet tall and looked thin. He had bright blue eyes but she could tell they were contacts. They didn't look real. He also had black hair that she could tell was dyed. It was too harsh to be real. Also noteworthy was his clothing. He was wearing a black pair of jeans with a black long sleeve shirt. He looked like he put time into his appearance.

He walked up to her and traced his hand across her left cheek. "Perfect" he whispered in a voice that made Emily want to gag. "I've been waiting for this love" he said in an obviously fake British accent before walking back to prop open the door. After briefly leaving he walked back into the room with a large portable fan and plugged it in, angling it towards Emily. The next item he brought it was a white 5 gallon bucket. He left it just far enough away so she couldn't make out what it was and walked back to her. "Elizabeta who did you talk to this time? ANSWER ME!" He yelled as he slapped her across the face.

"I'm SSA Emily Prentiss from the FBI. I'm a federal agent."

"STOP LYING!" He ordered venomously. "I know who you are. I know what you do! I know all about you and Oleg!"

"You have the wrong person" she firmly stated as he began to walk away.

"You know I loved you once, so I'll be lenient with how we begin" he commented as he came back with the bucket, throwing the icy water all over Emily before turning on the fan, which only made her more freezing. The clothes she was wearing only absorbed the cold while her feet began to feel almost numb against the floor. Her teeth chattered as she watched him click a remote before leaving the room, turning on blaring heavy metal music that threatened to deafen her. The worst part was that Emily knew this was just the beginning. He was just getting warmed up, destroying her body before the real torture would begin.

All Emily wanted to do was believe that the team was looking for her and would find her. She did believe that the team was searching for her, but she wondered of they would ever find her. _Who is Elizabeta? And if I impersonate her will it be better or worse for me? _Emily gave up on her line of questioning, unable to form a clear thought between the blistering cold, horrific pain, and the booming music. She didn't feel like she was in San Francisco anymore but rather Abu Ghraib.

**Any predictions so far? I always appreciate reviews. **

**Do you think Emily will last?**


	5. Elizabeta

**Some of your predictions are on the right track, but remember nothing is as it seems. I know that's ambiguous but I don't want to give too much away. **

Hotch and Rossi exited the borrowed black SUV and walked towards the yellow tape, flashing their credentials as they met up with Captain Hawthorne, who was also at the scene.

"I couldn't wait around" she confessed as the other agents nodded after approaching her.

"What happened?" Rossi asked as Hotch scanned the crime scene. Meyer's blood still stained the concrete sidewalk.

"Witnesses didn't see anything just heard a gunshot. An older man heard the noise but he's blind, he didn't see anything. There are no security cameras in the area and the informant they were meeting did show, Vice swears they're clean. They're positive it wasn't a set up and I believe them, they would have shot your agent too if it was. We can't figure out what happened or why it did."

Rossi took a deep breath and he nodded and went to comb through the crime scene with Hotch. "I think Hawthorne is right, I don't think the mafia is involved this time. Taking a federal agent, it would only bring more attention to them. They have enough heat on them now as it is."

"Which means that our unsub was following them here. Emily was his target" Hotch surmised as he continued to scan the alleyway that smelled like urine and putrified fish, combined with the distinct aroma of fresh blood. "He didn't seem to care about Meyer as long as he incapacitated him."

"Unsub probably saw the news conference and she triggered him" Rossi said as he crouched down to the ground behind where the detective's car was parked. "No footprints, there are some cigarette butts but they could be from anyone. If the unsub followed them here he wouldn't have waited anyway."

"What was Reid saying earlier about Emily's theory?" Hotch questioned as he looked through the alleyway, grimacing as a rat ran by.

"That the victims were surrogates for someone in our unsub's life."

"This crime scene is messy, it's dangerous. All the other crime scenes were meticulous but this one…"

"Possible witnesses, done during the day, dead cop, whoever she's the surrogate for, she's his stressor"

Hotch crossed his arms and furrowed his brow as he looked at the other man, "We can't tell JJ any of this."

"Aaron you cannot hide this from her. What if it was Haley? Would you want to be shut out"

"That's different."

"How?"

"Dave we have a child together, we've been together since high school…"

Rossi immediately cut him off, "You know that doesn't matter. They love each other and you owe it to JJ, and to Emily, to keep her informed. You cannot leave her out of this investigation. I'm not saying to have her take the lead in it but you cannot leave her in the dark about what's going on" Rossi firmly stated as Hotch seemed to relent. "A bigger problem is how are we going to tell Emily that Meyer didn't make it."

"She'll be okay" Hotch softly stated as he stared down to the marked area where Meyer's body had found. It was still stained, that section of sidewalk forever tainted by the case. "Why shoot him in the shoulder?"

"What?" Rossi questioned as he and Hotch slowly made their way back to the SUV.

"Why the shoulder? He wasn't wearing a vest, our unsub is a good shot. Why not the chest or the head?"

Rossi scratched his goatee as he entered into the vehicle and contemplated the question. "He didn't care that Meyer died."

"So he isn't worried about being recognized. He isn't in the system."

"Fuck" Rossi mumbled under his breath as he and Hotch drove back to the hotel in relative silence.

* * *

Her clothes had started to dry and Emily wondered how long she'd been in the room. All sense of time seemed to escape her, she couldn't tell if she had been there for an hour or a day. Emily scanned the room and saw that there was no way out. It was only then that she realized the loud music had stopped. It was a torture technique, one that she knew the CIA had used. A technique her training had prepared for her, to a degree. How prepared could you be for a situation like this? She worried about what else he had in store for her. He opened the door and propped it open as he carried in a video camera on a tripod. _Shit, p__lease don't let JJ see this. _

He set up the video camera away from her and she worried what he had planned. "You looked worried" he said in a sinister voice in the same horrendous British accent.

"I'm not" she answered in a stern tone.

"Before we start, tell me Elizabeta who did you turn me into?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I know all about you, what you did! I know that you're a fucking spy!" He yelled as he moved to hit her but restrained himself at the last second.

"I'm not a spy" she replied firmly. _Well, I was never a Russian spy named Elizabeta anyway you fucking idiot._

"Fine, we will do this the hard way then" he remarked sounding almost giddy. He left the room again and returned with a needle full of some sort of drug. Emily squirmed to get away from it as he cut away her pants and pricked her in the thigh. "Stop struggling, don't worry we're not doing anything…yet" he assured.

"I'm a federal agent you shithead!" She yelled as she struggled against the restraints.

"And so am I" he claimed as her body started to sag after the drugs began to take affect.

He waited a few minutes before he returned with a burlap sack and a board that had a strap in the center. He whistled cheerfully as he removed the handcuffs from Emily's already weak body and placed her gently on the board. He then worked on re-binding her hands, tying up her legs, and strapping her down with the center belt. Finally he placed the black burlap sack over her head and left the room, waiting to hear her stirring to signal that it was time to begin.

* * *

"JJ how are you holding up?" Morgan asked as he entered into the quiet hotel room. He knew it was a stupid question but he had to ask it anyway.

"I don't know. I'm worried" JJ confessed. She knew it wasn't fair to him but she partially blamed Morgan. Morgan was Emily's partner not some random San Francisco detective. He was supposed to watch over her. But if she was honest most of her anger stemmed from guilt, guilt that she had been sick. She had sent Emily out to the media, she was the reason this sick fuck saw her, she was the reason that the team was down an agent and Morgan wasn't paired with Emily. Worst of all she was the one who didn't tell her girlfriend that she loved her before she disappeared. Internally JJ was crumbling, and the team could see it.

"She's strong" Reid spoke up as he dragged a chair to sit next to the bed where JJ, who just nodded in response, was sitting.

"What do we know so far?" Morgan asked the broken team before him.

"Emily kept saying last night that the only thing that made sense to her was that our unsub was in a Russian prison but he wouldn't pass through immigration" Garcia spoke up.

"JJ did she say anything to you last night?" Morgan asked hopefully.

"No, just that it was bothering her. I was so out of it, I'm sorry" JJ admitted, the team could tell she was embarrassed.

"She said that to me too. It didn't make sense to her, it wasn't sitting well' Reid added as Hotch and Rossi knocked on the door prompting Morgan to answer it.

"Find anything?" JJ questioned to Hotch.

"Nobody saw anything. It was risky, he was sloppy. Emily was his target, he didn't even care about Meyer."

"Where did he shoot him?"

"JJ…"

"Hotch I need to feel like I'm helping her" JJ said as she wrapped her arms around her body to comfort herself.

Hotch looked over to Rossi who nodded and smiled at JJ, "Shoulder."

"That's an odd place to shoot someone" Reid replied to Hotch. "Something about that is bothering me. Did he shoot him in the shoulder on purpose?"

"I don't know Reid, why?"

"Because typically one would think that the shoulder would be a fairly safe place to shoot someone. However there are a lot of veins and arteries that come off the shoulder, including the brachial artery. If you hit that artery the victim would bleed out in minutes. But fictionally most characters who are shot in the shoulder survive so it is common misconception that a gunshot wound to the shoulder is not a life-threatening injury."

"Then maybe our unsub isn't so experienced after all. Maybe he's getting his training from a fictional medium?" Morgan inquired as he looked over to Hotch. "Emily was working with an angle on a Russian prisoner."

"Makes sense but also doesn't" Rossi reiterated. "Maybe Garcia can check immigration records anyway."

"I can" Garcia said enthusiastically as she hopped off the bed and moved to her computers, relieved that she had some sort of assignment to help Emily. Morgan moved to sit on Garcia's bed as he re-read the case files while Reid stayed with JJ and thought about who Emily could represent to the unsub. Rossi went to take an open seat near the kitchenette area as Hotch remained standing.

"JJ can I talk to you outside?"

"Yeah" JJ complied as she left Reid and went into the hallway with Hotch. "What do you need?"

"Whoever Emily symbolizes to this unsub, she's his stressor. I need you to prepare yourself for what that means. Do you understand?"

"He's going to hurt her" JJ stated in a quiet voice as she looked down at her feet.

"If you can't handle that you need to be off the case. No one would think less of you…"

JJ raised her hand to stop Hotch from continuing, "I have to do this. I have to feel like I'm helping her for my own sanity. Hotch I owe it to her to keep it together. I need to be present for her."

"Okay then let's get to work" Hotch ordered as he walked back into the hotel room. "Garcia and JJ stay here. Garcia keep sifting through those immigration records, we need to know if someone so much as got a traffic ticket in Russia and immigrated here. JJ you will continue to craft all media statements, which I will give from now on. You will also serve as a liaison between us and Captain Hawthorne. She's opened her office to us so communicate with her directly. Call her and see if we can get into contact with the organized crime unit. We need to know more about Polovski's gang. Morgan and Rossi continue to conduct victim family interviews, do not bother filtering through the crime scenes. There's nothing there. Reid help JJ and Garcia in any way you can here. Revisit whatever theory you and Prentiss were developing yesterday. I'm going to head back to the precinct and see if I can put some pressure on Vice to see if we can get into contact with their informant. We need whatever information he was going to share with Meyer." Hotch took a deep breath before continuing, "I know that all we want to do is find Emily but we have to solve this case like any other one to find her. We cannot only focus on Emily, we need to find out what drew our unsub to the other victims too. We don't know what sort of timeframe we're working with here so we need to get started" he ordered before leaving the room, with Morgan and Rossi following close behind.

"Our unsub doesn't have a job, either that or he's self-employed" JJ remarked to Reid who nodded in agreement. "Any way to find him that way?"

Garcia sighed, "Well buttercup, it can help us narrow it down once we have more to go on, but now the search parameters are still too wide. But JJ it will help when we have something else to go on."

JJ gave a small smile in return as she sat down on the bed clutching her cellphone and laptop. _How the fuck am I going to write a subjective and professional press release about my partner being kidnapped? _

"Maybe Emily can help us" Reid offered with a shrug.

"How?" JJ questioned.

"She's Emily" was all the explanation Reid gave as he went back to reading case files. JJ couldn't help but smile. If anyone could help aid an investigation from the confines of being kidnapped it was Emily Prentiss.

* * *

Emily awoke again as she struggled against the board she was strapped to. She had difficulty breathing through the dark sack on her head and was frustrated to not be able to see anything. Her inability to see enabled him to watch her as he set up the camera. He was wearing all black, including a black mask. "Ready darling?" He asked as Emily shuddered at his voice. She hoped he wasn't going to do to what she thought he was. She was lying down and strapped to a board, what else would he do? She began to internally panic as she heard him walk closer.

"Who are you?"

"Emily Prentiss, I work for the FBI" she said in a matter of fact tone refusing to show any fear or apprehension over what was going to happen next.

"WRONG!"

**What is our unsub going to do with Emily? It doesn't involve sexual assault of any kind. **

**Who do you think the unsub is going to send the video to? **

**Is he British or Russian?**

**I love reading reviews/predictions so be sure to leave them in the comments section. If there's a scene you'd like to see in this story feel free to leave a suggestion and I might use it, if it flows with the rest of the story. **

**Keep the reviews coming.**


	6. Delusion

**The identity of our unsub isn't revealed quite yet, but a big clue is in this chapter.**

**This contains violence and torture so be advised, but j****ust to reiterate there are NO instances of sexual assault in this story.**

"Who are you?"

"Emily Prentiss, I work for the FBI." she said in a matter of fact tone refusing to show any fear or apprehension over what was going to happen next.

"WRONG!" He screamed as he poured the icy cold water over her head. Emily gurgled when the frigid water burned her lungs and sinuses. She desperately tried to cough it up to breathe. She felt like she was drowning and immediately knew what he was doing to her. _Waterboarding. _"TELL ME YOUR FUCKING NAME! YOUR REAL BLOODY NAME!"

"Emily…"

"YOUR NAME IS ELIZABETA! WHAT DID YOU DO ELIZABETA? HOW DID YOU FUCK ME OVER?!"

"I didn't" Emily choked out as he poured the water over her head again, right as she was speaking. "I can't breathe" she tried to get out over her incessant coughing.

"GOOD! ASK YOUR NANA WHERE OLEG IS" He ordered as Emily realized what he was asking. He thought she was a Russian spy with a father who had connections in the mob. But she didn't know if it was better to play into his fantasy or ignore it completely. She came to the conclusion that if she confessed he would probably kill her. Her only option was to take the punishment. At least she was still somewhat drugged.

"I don't know who you're talking about" she whispered in a frail tone.

"FUCK!" He screamed as he poured the water over her again and again, spending more time pouring the water in each interval until he eventually ran out. Finally he stopped and asked her again, "What did you do?!"

"I didn't do anything to you" Emily replied in a raspy voice, completely exhausted from the ordeal. It wasn't just the physical torture of feeling like she was drowning that exhausted her, but the psychological torture of knowing she had no control over the situation. Emily Prentiss thrived on control and at the moment she didn't have any. As her a result her body and mind were drained.

"Fine have it your way" he said before repeatedly kicking her in the ribs and using the barrel of his gun to hit her left temple, making her immediately feel dizzy and nauseated. He unstrapped her from the board and screamed, "GET UP!"

Emily struggled to find her footing and quickly fell because of the rope tying her legs together. He walked over to her and kicked her in the side, causing her to finally cry out in agony. Emily felt defeated, like he had won by her admission of pain_. _He turned to address the camera and began to speak in an eerily calm voice, "Find Oleg for me or I will kill her and send her piece by piece to you." He turned back to Emily and screeched at her again, "I SAID GET UP!"

* * *

"I have nothing" Garcia huffed as she pushed herself away from the computer and put her hands on her head in frustration. It was a sediment echoed by the rest of the team over and over again since Emily had been abducted. They had nothing, they weren't even sure if she was still alive.

That was the worst part, the uncertainty of it all.

JJ had said that the local police had found nothing, Vice wasn't willing to give up their undercover guy or sources. Reid felt useless, Hotch felt things were hopeless, but Rossi and Morgan were about the come into a bit of luck when questioning the family of Joseph Oborski.

"Mrs. Oborski did you notice anything strange, any person you didn't recognize before that suddenly seemed interested in your life?" Morgan asked the thin middle-aged red-haired woman in front of him.

"There was a man with blonde hair that was asking around for work about a month before…" She trailed off not wanting to say it.

"What exactly did he say?" Rossi asked as he leaned in closer to hear the answer.

"He said he had just moved here from Russia and wanted to know where he could get stable work. He had heard that my husband worked at the prison and asked if I knew anyone else that worked there and I told him…" Mrs. Oborksi trailed off as she realization hit her. "Oh no."

"Mrs. Oborski what did this man look like? Was there anything distinct about him?" Rossi questioned trying to get an answer from the widow who was becoming hysterical. "This man may have just killed a SFPD detective and abducted a federal agent so you need to let us know anything that you saw" Rossi ordered as his voice evolved from being soft and kind to firm and stern.

"He didn't have an accent but he could speak some Russian, but not well. He looked like he wearing a wig and blue contacts. That's all I know" she admitted as she started to cry. Rossi looked over to Morgan who was perplexed by the description. The only thing that made sense was that the man was Russian and had served time in a Russian prison, but Mrs. Oborski seemed to think the he was an impostor.

"We need to talk to Hotch" Rossi said to Morgan as he patted the woman on the shoulder and prepared to leave.

Morgan and Rossi immediately dialed Hotch from the car to let him in on their findings.

"Hotch we got something" Morgan exclaimed with the excitement evident in his voice as he and Rossi drove back to the hotel. It was their last family interview and it turned out to be the most fruitful one.

"What do you have?" Hotch asked as he himself brightened up considerably with the prospect of a new new lead.

"A month before the murders started a man went to the Orthodox synagogue and claimed that he was Russian and wanted to know where the men worked. He was passing it off as if he was looking for work. Our victim's wife said he was wearing a blonde wig and blue contacts but she said he didn't have a Russian accent. She said he tried to speak Russian but he didn't know how."

"This makes no sense, so he's obsessed with Russian culture but not Russian?"

"Could he be a professor or a student? Maybe that's why he's obsessed."

"But how does Emily play into this?"

"I don't know Hotch. The only one that could probably help us on this case is…"

"Is Emily" Hotch cut in as he finished the other man's thoughts. "I'll met you at the hotel. Let the rest of the team know what you found out."

"We have an impostor."

"He's delusional."

"Is that better of worse for Emily?"

Hotch exhaled a deep breath as he rubbed his eyes, noticing Captain Hawthorne walking up to him, "I don't know. I'll meet up with your later" he said as he ended the call.

* * *

"We have a tape" Captain Hawthorne stated as she walked up to Hotch.

"Of?"

"I don't know exactly. I don't have it. An undercover man just made contact, he said that Vladimir Polovski received it an hour ago."

"What is on it?"

"Your agent" Hawthorne admitted solemnly as she looked off to the side to prepare herself for what she was going to have to tell the team leader in front of her.

"I need to get the tape."

Captain Hawthorne took a deep breath before she replied to Hotch, "That's where we have a problem. Polovski doesn't care about your agent, the threats made on the tape aren't important to him. He feels feds are expendable, to put it lightly. On the streets he's known as "The Wolf." He's not known to be merciful, or even reasonable. And we can't arrest him or confiscate the tape without revealing that we have an undercover in his crew."

"Fuck that" Hotch said as he got visibly angry. Hotch never used that sort of language on cases, that was normally Morgan, but this time was different. This time it was his team member in danger and people were withholding information from him.

"Hey I'm with you. It's pissing me off, this son of a bitch killed a cop, and that's not even mentioning the other victims and your agent. But fucking bureaucratic fucktards don't want to risk an undercover operation for a tape that may not exist. They contend that there is no way to confirm that the tape is legitimate and therefore it is not worth the risk. Evidently it's above my pay grade" Hawthorne confessed with the vexation plainly evident in her voice.

"That tape is the only thing we have to get our agent back" Hotch argued as he crossed his arms in frustration.

"I know that, that's why you need to put pressure on the brass. I can't help you here. As soon as we can I'll have an officer send the tape directly to you at the hotel and bring in Polovski for questioning when you're ready for him. But right now, I can't do anything for you."

Hotch nodded as he looked down to his cellphone and scrolled through the contacts to find the one he was searching for. _Erin Strauss._

* * *

Her face was bleeding, mixing on the concrete floor with the blood that was consistently dripping from her head. Her eyes were opened but everything was blurry and she didn't know if it was from the frequent blows to the head or the drugs that flowed through her system. She was chained to a wall, forcing her to remain standing through it all, but her body had started to sag. Her hands were bound and hanging above her head, leaving her body vulnerable from his frequent beatings. Her head pounded as the blaring heavy metal music continued. All she wanted was for it to be over, all she wanted was to go home to JJ. She didn't want to do this anymore, she couldn't do this anymore. But she had made a promise to JJ a few months prior. She had promised that she would be okay, and giving up and dying would most certainly not be keeping that promise. She cringed when she noticed that the music had stopped. _He _walked through the door and moved from within mere inches of her face.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU TELL THEM?!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as Emily shuddered, the noise only further exasperating her migraine. "ELIZABETA!"

"I don't know what you're talking about" Emily confessed as she felt another blow connect to her body, this time to her ribs.

"DON'T LIE TO ME!"

"I'M NOT" She struggled to get out over the pain.

"Okay then, we're going to have to go about a different way of doing this aren't we not darling?" He informed her as he smiled evilly before continuing, "Let's try a few ideas I got from that Russian prison you sent me to. How does that sound love?"

"I don't know you! I didn't send you anywhere!"

He didn't bother to reply to her defense and just walked out of the door briefly. She shivered as her thoughts went back to JJ. He immediately came back with a pair of scissors and after turning the video camera back on he cut the clothes away from her body, leaving her exposed in her underwear. "I have missed this" he sickly said as he ran his fingers along her arm. She hated how he was touching her, preferring the brutal beatings to his gentler touch.

"Please stop" she pleaded as he looked down at her. She was dreading what he was going to do next.

"No" was all he said as he continued to touch down her body with feather light touches until he reached the pressure point on the inside of her elbow and pressed with all his force. She screamed in pain at the contact. "Tell me where Oleg is. Tell me who sold me out!" He ordered before pressing again.

"I don't know what you're talking about" Emily said as she tried to compartmentalize the pain. It didn't work. He continued to move down her body with light touches until he reached where the ankle and foot met, once again pressing hard on the point as Emily cried out in pain again. "Stop lying to me. I know you better than this!"

"Please stop" she cried. _  
_

"I will when you tell your father to cooperate."

"I will" she struggled to get out over the pain after he kicked at her knee caps. He let her out of the cuffs and she stumbled on to the floor, landing on her painful knees. _  
_

"What are you doing?! I had to! This is unacceptable! But it was fine what you were doing it to me! I never touched you! YES YOU DID BY PUTTING ME THERE! You need to control yourself! Do not tell me what to do!" He argued with himself as Emily observed him pacing around the room, gesturing wildly as he pulled at his hair. It was at that point that it all clicked for Emily. There was never an Elizabeta, he was not English, he had not been in prison, he was completely delusional. She had to inform the team. She had to get a message to them. Any leads about Russia or the mob was irrelevant. They needed to let those leads go if they were ever going to find her in time.

"I will talk to my father for you" She spoke up interrupting his argument.

"Good. I knew I could count on you, on us" he said longingly as he turned off the video camera, turned back on the music, and left the room.

**So I think it's fair to say that this unsub is delusional and had lost all touch with reality. He's not Russian, but what does that mean? What is going on?**

**Any predictions? **

**As always reviews are welcomed and greatly appreciated. **


	7. The Video

**Does Strauss come through for the team?**

It was 12am when an uniformed police officer knocked at Hotch's hotel room door. Strauss had made some strategic calls and had managed to get the San Francisco D.A. to put enough pressure on the captain of the narcotics division to release the tape to Hotch. The captain of narcotics had expressed his concerns to Strauss that it would compromise and effectively end a three-year ongoing investigation. In turn Strauss had expressed her concerns that Emily Prentiss was a federal agent and he could "go fuck himself." Hotch had yet to tell the team, other than Rossi, about the tape. They wanted to watch the tape before the rest of the team, worried about what it would contain.

"We can't show this to JJ" Hotch said as he opened the envelope and looked at the contents inside. The envelope contained a prepaid cellphone and a USB flash drive with the initials LN written in black marker on it. "LN?"

"Name? The unsub must be confident that he can't be found."

"Or even worse, he's not scared if he is" Hotch remarked as he plugged in into the laptop port.

"I agree that JJ shouldn't see this, but the rest of the team needs to see it Aaron" Rossi firmly stated as he sat down at the small table with Hotch.

"I know Dave but, what if it's…" Hotch drifted off before he could finish his thought. However, per usual Rossi knew what he was getting at.

"Even if it is there might be clues on the tape that we don't pick up on. He's had her for 17 hours now. It's almost been an entire day, even if she's still alive the body can only take so much stress."

"Okay" Hotch said as he began the video, which showed Emily being water boarded.

"Shit" Rossi mumbled as he ran his hands through his hair. The video only lasted forty-five minutes but it felt like it went on for days. Emily already looked terrible and they knew that the video must have been hours old. How could she last any longer than that? "Mentally she still looks strong, but physically…"

"She's deteriorating" Hotch finished. He hated how clinical they had to be when talking about their teammate, their family, but they needed to distance themselves from the case. It was Emily's only chance. They knew that JJ, Garcia, Morgan, and even Reid wouldn't be able so, therefore, it fell upon them. "W-what did we see?" Hotch asked in an abnormally shaky voice.

"She was shaking and you could see his breath at some points, the room must be very cold."

"I doubt he's feeding her, he's starving her as well."

"Hey body already looked bruised so he's been beating her since he kidnapped her. Our unsub isn't English, he's lying about his identity" Rossi added as he yawned and rubbed his eyes. "He sent a phone. He's going to call, he wants to make contact. We need to get to the precinct and stay with Polovski, coach him through how he needs to communicate with our unsub."

"Dave he's not going to talk to us."

"That's why we need Garcia."

Hotch nodded as he fixed his tie. "I need to call Strauss, she was concerned about the tape. She really saved our ass this time. Get the video to the rest of the team." Rossi didn't feel the to respond as he left the room and headed to the other one across the hall.

* * *

"Elizabeta?" the unsub asked in a kind voice as he entered through the basement door. "Elizabeta?"

"Yes" Emily croaked as she opened her eyes.

"Elizabeta I missed you" he said as he looked at her longingly and approached her frail body, stroking up and down her stomach. It wasn't rape but it felt just as violating. She shuttered as he leaned into to her, brushing his nose against her neck. He felt her body tense and immediately pulled back. "Do I disgust you?!"

"No, it just, it isn't right" Emily pleaded as she saw his eyes flare with hatred.

"Is it not right for a man to make love with his wife?!"

Emily flinched at the phrase. She was not going to 'make love' with anyone but JJ, there would be no compromise. "We aren't married anymore. I left you remember?" Emily firmly said, hoping that was what had happened in his fantasy._  
_

"OH I REMEMBER! I FUCKING REMEMBER YOU BITCH!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as he slapped her across the face. "YOU KNOW WHAT THEY DID TO ME BECAUSE OF YOU?!"

"Yeah I know" Emily replied unapologetically. She knew that there would be hell to pay, but she needed to get him disinterested in her sexually.

"FUCK! YOU HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA WHAT THEY DID TO ME!" He shouted before bringing his hands to head and pacing around the room in circles. After calming himself down he smiled in a sinister fashion before he walked back to where Emily was chained, speaking in a calm voice. "What I have done with you is just the beginning. I have to do some shopping but first I have an another idea. You see Elizabeta prisons are full of drugs. You know this. But did you know that they get you addicted to the drugs so you will be willing to give anything of yourself to get a fix? You're willing to give any favor of yourself" he stated as he ran his gun over her left cheekbone. "And when I am done with you, you are going to be begging me to fuck you." Emily let out deep breath when he left the room, but she knew he wasn't going to be gone for long when the music didn't start up again. A few minutes later he returned with a needle full of a dark liquid. She squirmed as he brought it closer to her body. "Try to enjoy this darling" he ordered in an almost loving voice as he injected her.

_"You're okay, you're okay, you're okay"_ she repeated to herself internally as the drugs started to take effect, causing her to lose her herself. She didn't know what he had injected her with, but she knew it was strong. She hated the feeling it gave her. She hated how the drugs made her hallucinate as every horrible memory, the abortion, Matthew's death, JJ and Will, Ian Doyle, everything came rushing back to her at once, compounding into one harrowing nightmare.

* * *

"JJ you need to sleep" Reid gently insisted as he sat down next to JJ on the bed. He felt uncomfortable sitting on Emily and JJ's bed, as if he didn't belong there. That was the bed the couple shared and he didn't have a place in it. But he knew he had to be there for JJ, he knew that was what Emily would have wanted. _It IS what Emily wants _Reid internally scolded himself, loathing how he had just used the past tense to describe his friend.

"I can't" she admitted as he moved closer to her. She couldn't even fathom the idea of sleeping without Emily, not while she wasn't safe. Morgan and Garcia had already fallen asleep, opting to take a quick nap so they could be fresh when new information came in. Morgan had offered to sleep on the floor but Garcia said she didn't mind sharing. Garcia would have offered to sleep with JJ, but the blonde had just wanted to be alone. No one wanted to go back to their own room. They all wanted to be in the same place, hoping that new information would come in, needing to be present when it did.

"I'll wake you up."

"Thanks Spence but it's, it'd rather wait."

"I don't know what to say" Reid meekly confessed as he tried to tuck JJ in. JJ couldn't help but smile and chuckle at the words before getting a pained look on her face. "What?"

"I just keep thinking that the only one who would know what to say in this situation would be Emily" JJ softly said as she looked over to Emily's bag once again, as if it was an extension of the brunette. The only piece of her she currently had in her possession.

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

The quiet conversation between the two friends was interrupted by a light knocking at the door, which to the surprise of Rossi was opened by JJ. "Hey kiddo shouldn't you be resting?"

JJ cut to right to the point, "What's going on?"

"We were sent a video."

"What is it?" JJ asked, Rossi noted that her normally bright blue eyes were dull and any ounce of calmness and humor had left her body, with Emily.

"JJ you don't want to see it" he said firmly as JJ prevented him from entering the room.

"You're right. I don't want to see it, but I know you watched it and I need to know what was on the video. I need to know what he's doing to her, I need to know she's okay."

"He's torturing her JJ" Rossi simply confirmed with a soft voice. "It's hard to watch but I need the team to watch it and I need Garcia to run a few things for me so I can help Emily."

"What do you need her to run?"

"JJ you're wasting time" Rossi snapped.

"Just tell me what the fuck is going on!" JJ ordered with her hands on her hips. She ran her hands over her tired eyes and wanted to scream.

"He's going to call and I need leverage to make the guy he wants talk."

"I'm coming with you."

"No JJ."

"I need to hear her voice" JJ pleaded.

Rossi sighed and crossed his arms at the statement, scanning the hallway for the reinforcements he didn't have. Reid was standing next to JJ, offering her all of his support. In his mind JJ should get whatever she needed in this situation. Morgan and Garcia had also woken up, but they stayed out of the argument, with Garcia setting up her computers so she would be ready to run whatever search she needed. "She might not even be able to talk to us. JJ you are too close to this. I agree with letting you know what is happening but you cannot work on this investigation."

"We're all too fucking close Rossi!"

"Not as close as you. JJ you are in love with her."

"We all love her" JJ shot back. She had to know Emily was alive. She needed to hear her voice, because JJ could always gauge what was going on from Emily's voice and only she could do it. Rossi was right, JJ shared an unmatched intimacy with Emily and as a result only she was the only one who could read the brunette.

"Yes we all love her but you are in love with her and do not tell me that doesn't make a difference. You cannot sit in on the call and that's it. Now I need to have Reid and Morgan watch this video and I need Garcia to find everything we have on Vladimir Polovski so we can save your girlfriend."

During his rant neither Rossi nor JJ had seen Hotch exit his nearby hotel room. Hotch watched JJ's nervous form and thought to how he would feel if it was Haley. He thought about how badly he would want to, no need to, hear her voice. JJ needed to hear that Emily was still alive, and he couldn't take that away from her. He knew it wasn't the best decision as a team leader, but right then JJ needed a friend more than anything. It was out of character for him but he couldn't help but feel compassion for the broken woman in front of him. After watching the video Hotch needed to hear Emily's voice himself and he couldn't imagine how badly JJ needed to. And maybe there were things that only JJ could pick up on during the call. "She can sit in" he said in the same professional monotone he always used before walking down the hallway, hinting that Rossi and her should follow him.

"Garcia I need everything you can find on Vladimir Polovski, anything we can use to get him to talk. Morgan, Reid, you need to watch this" Rossi instructed as he handed over the flash drive and followed JJ and Hotch to the SUV.

* * *

Hotch stood beside JJ as they both watched Polovski wait for Rossi in the small interrogation room. "JJ what happened to Emily was not your fault. You need to know that. You need to remember that" Hotch said firmly as they both stood staring straight ahead.

"I know."

"I can see it in your eyes, the blame. You need to stop blaming yourself. JJ what happened to Emily happened and the only person that falls on is our unsub. Not Meyer, not anyone else, and especially not you. The things we do, the risks we take, that's just the job and no one knows that better than Emily. And she would be devastated if she thought you were feeling any other way."

JJ sighed, "I know. I just keep thinking, if I had done the press conference maybe…"

"You can't think that way."

"I shouldn't, but until she's safe I can't help but feel responsible." JJ stretched as she stifled a yawn. She still felt tired and achy, but she wasn't going to tell anyone else that. She wasn't going to abandon Emily just because of the flu. "It's already been 22 hours. How much time do we get?"

"I don't know" Hotch admitted as he took a deep breath. "But we will find her JJ. I promise you that I will bring her home."

JJ moved away from the glass panel to walk towards the door, only stopping to softly speak to her team leader, "You know the last time someone promised me something it was Emily, and she promised me she'd always be okay. It's not fair for me to ask those sort of promises from you."

"Well good thing you didn't ask" Hotch simply stated before JJ left the observation room in favor of the conference room.

* * *

"Well, I bet you didn't think you would find yourself here again did you Vlad?" Rossi inquired sarcastically as he sat on the other side of Vladimir Polovski, a short overweight bald man who was wearing a polo shirt and khakis. "Did I disturb you from a game of midnight golf of are you always dressed like this?"

"I am sorry about your agent" Polovski offered with mock politeness in a Russian accent.

"You look devastated."

Polovski just grinned and shrugged, "What is one more agent huh?"

"We heard about your package, the one you didn't want to hand over."

"I don't respond well to threats, more so when it involves helping federal agent."

"You do know that you are required to cooperate."

"I am not required to do anything. America is free country" Polovski chuckled as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

As Hotch watched the battle of wills through the interrogation room glass he received a phone call. "Hotchner."

"Sir I found something to help you with your Russian mobster. After some digging I found out that he is a federal informant. I just kept wondering, he commits all these crimes and never get in trouble right? Well it turns out he struck a deal where he turns in other mobsters and he stays out of jail, like his very own get out of jail free card."

"Thank you Garcia that helps. Did Reid or Morgan see anything on the video?"

"Reid thinks it maybe be a basement, it looks too small to be a warehouse. I'm checking property records with basements against unemployed or self-employed men in our age parameters but it's a bigger list than you'd think."

"Keep working on it Garcia. Send Reid down to the precinct to sit with JJ" Hotch requested as he pocketed his cell phone and entered into the interrogation room to whispered something Rossi's ear.

Rossi smiled at the news and leaned forward to close in on the space between him and Polovski, "So let's talk about that little get out of jail free card of yours that is about to expire."

**A big clue was in this chapter and all is revealed in the next chapter. Last chance for predictions. **

**Clue: this is NOT a crossover. **


	8. Unsub Identified

**This is a long chapter and a lot happens in it.**

**Just to warn you this chapter has feels. **

Polovski's face sank at the realization that Rossi had found out about his secret. "What?"

"We know Vlad. We know all about your little deal with your friends, the feds. And we are prepared to not only end your little arrangement, but I am thinking that I might just hire a sky-writer to broadcast the news of your federal friendship all around Russian Hill. Now how would you like THAT?" Rossi threatened as he banged on the table, causing Polovski to jump slightly. "So I am going to ask you again, do you know the man from the video?"

"No" Polovski said as he shook his head.

"Who is Oleg?"

"I don't know any Oleg, this man is crazy" Polovski claimed as he gestured wildly. He knew was not going to stop engaging in illegal activities, but he didn't want to go to prison either. He needed his arrangement to stay in tact.

"And Elizabeta?"

"I don't know who he is talking about but I have no daughter, only a son named Yuri."

"Are you sure that you don't have any illegitimate children?"

"I am successful man, the children would not stay hidden for long" Polovski remarked with a small grin. "You need to talk with Anton, he has something for you in car. Tell him his master asks for him."

"What are you taking about?"

"Black Mercedes" Polovski ordered as Hotch poked his head out of the interrogation room door addressing an uniformed officer.

"Find Agent Reid and tell him to go to a black Mercedes and ask Anton for a…" Hotch trailed off as he glared at Polovski.

"The new tape."

Hotch cleared his throat before turning back to the officer, "Tell him to ask for the new tape. His master requests it of him." The young officer nodded as the team leader nodded for Rossi to continue the interview.

Rossi took a deep breath to clear his head and continued, "Tell me about Aleksei Dmitriev, Igor Bolokhovsis, Viktor Aleksandrov, and Borris Aleksandrov. Who knew they were involved with you?"

"Everyone in Russian Hill and Chinatown."

"Were they the ones who were the most open about what they did?"

"They were proud."

Rossi chuckled at the statement and Hotch spoke up before Rossi had a chance to, "Our unsub will be calling you soon and you are going to need to talk to him. Can you do that? Can you explicitly follow our instructions?"

"I can talk on phone" Polovski scoffed, insulted at the implications. "I am not fucking retarded."

Hotch ignored his comment, "We need you to keep him talking so we can get a trace on him. We need you to agree with whatever he says. Do you understand me?"

"Yes."

"Try to get him to put our agent on the phone, say that's the only way you will help him. Emphasize that on the call, we need to know our agent is okay."

"And when I am done what do I get?" Polovski asked as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"I'll cancel the sky-writer" Rossi answered as he and Hotch left the room to wait for the unsub's phone call.

* * *

Reid exited the police precinct doors to find the black Mercedes-Benz sedan sitting in the parking lot. Waiting for Vladimir Polovski, "The Wolf," was a man with a shaved head and a goatee wearing a black suit with a crisp white shirt. The imposing man also looked extremely muscular. Reid gulped slightly as he approached the car and knocked on the window. The power window rolled down while Anton continued to stare straight ahead.

"Anton?" Reid asked in a quiet voice. Anton didn't respond so Reid just continued on, "Your master said you had a tape for us." Anton didn't respond and merely reached into his breast pocket and took out another flash drive to throw out the window towards Reid. Reid, not being the most agile person in the world, dropped it on the ground but quickly picked it up. "Can I ask you about Aleksei Dmitriev, Igor Bolokhovsis, Viktor Aleksandrov, and Borris Aleksandrov?"

"Aleksei was pussy, others all right." the man replied in a heavy Russian accent.

"Why did you think Aleksei was that, umm, that word?" Reid stuttered.

"One day I ask him, Aleksei if you had to fuck man who would it be? He says to me, 'I don't know maybe Vladimir Putin, maybe David Beckham.' If he had to fuck one man he'd fuck two."

"Okay" Reid simply replied. He was disappointed that he had just wasted his time listening to an anecdote that had no bearing on the case. "Why do you let him call you your master? Doesn't it bother you?" Reid asked softly.

"When my master is strong than I am strong" Anton answered, still facing straight ahead.

"And if your master is weak?"

"I would never waste time serving a weak man" Anton replied as he rolled up the window, signally the conversation was over. Reid shook his head at the interaction and mumbled as he walked away, "I can't wait to leave San Francisco."

* * *

Reid entered the conference room to find Rossi and Hotch waiting for him. "Where's JJ?" the young genius asked with the concern evident in his voice.

"I asked her to help Morgan and Garcia pack up Garcia's computers to set them up here. Garcia's going to try to trace the call, Polovski agreed to keep our unsub talking. Do you have the tape?" Hotch inquired as he took out his laptop.

"Yeah" Reid responded as he handed over the USB flash drive.

"Did Anton say anything useful to you?"

"It depends on what you consider useful, but no." Reid answered as Hotch began playing the video

Reid fidgeted when he saw the unsub cut the clothes away from Emily, "W-what is he going to do with her?" He questioned in a small voice.

Rossi just shook his head in response as Hotch clenched his jaw in anger at the footage. Somehow it was worse that the first video. The men could tell that this time it was different, Emily had lost all of her strength, all of her stubbornness. In the plainest of terms Emily had lost what had made her Emily. The agony was evident on her face that normally concealed all emotions. Her voice was pleading, weak, and unlike the normally smooth and assured voice of Emily Prentiss, the Ambassador's daughter.

"He's hurting her" Reid uttered in a barely audible voice tinged with sadness. How could someone do this to his friend? How could someone inflict pain on Emily like this? The video brought back the painful memories of Tobias Hankel, but Reid knew he couldn't focus on himself. He needed his sole focus to be on how he was going to help Emily. This wasn't about him.

Hotch felt like he was going to be physically sick after the video ended. "We have to find her" he simply stated as he looked over to Rossi, whose face was drained of all color and reflected his own.

"We will" was all Rossi said before Morgan, Garcia, and JJ entered the room. Hotch glanced over to Reid and Rossi to give them a look that conveyed everything he was thinking. _They will not see this new video._

* * *

She didn't know how it was possible with the blaring music, it must have been the searing pain, but Emily finally fell asleep. She didn't know what time it was or how long she had been there but she just couldn't manage to keep her eyes open anymore. However, just as she began to feel a wave of relief pass over her she felt more icy water hit her face, the freezing cold burning the cuts near her head.

"Wake up!" She heard him order. "You need to be alert for this. WAKE UP"! He screamed into her face as he slapped her viciously.

"I'm awake" she told him as she willed herself not to show any physical weakness or emotion. She could still taste, and smell, the tap water in her burned sinuses. It was beyond physical exhaustion that this point, she was mentally exhausted. She missed the gentle manner in which JJ would wake her up. She missed JJ altogether. She was tired of being bound, she was so tired of standing, she was tired of being cold, she was tired of the music and the yelling. She was just so tired. All she wanted to do was give up, but Emily Prentiss didn't give up. The Prentiss family didn't lose, and she wasn't going to be the one who started to.

"Good. Now one last time, what is your name?"

"Elizabeta."

"Elizabeta who?"

_Fuck I don't know her last name! _"Umm."

"TELL ME YOUR NAME!"

"I don't know" Emily whispered.

"YOU KNOW I AM GETTING REALLY FUCKING SICK OF THIS GAME OF YOURS!" He screeched as he kicked her legs out from underneath her, causing the weight of her body to fall against the chains around her already bruised wrists.

"I'm not playing anything."

"Fine, we will do this the hard way" the unsub huffed as he took out the disposable phone and dialed Polovski.

* * *

Polovski sat at the conference room table surrounded by the entire team. As soon at the flip phone rang Hotch raised four fingers, directing that Polovski only answer it after four rings, which he did. It couldn't look like he was too eager. They needed any leverage they could get so they could ask to talk to Emily.

"Yes."

"I need to know where Oleg is" the unsub said in his trustworthy fake British accent.

"Oleg?"

"Don't play bloody stupid with me! A rat fuck for a father and a spy whore for a daughter, what a family."

Hotch pointed at the paper of talking points resting on the table and motioned for Polovski to go on. "You have my daughter."

"I have her."

"Is she okay?"

"Depends on what you see as okay. She'll be more okay when I get what I want."

"Let me talk to her, please" Polovski asked as the unsub looked over to Emily's weak body.

"Talk to your father, in English" he ordered as he put the device on speaker phone and handed it to her.

"Father?" Her shaky groggy voice asked as JJ shot up and moved closer to the phone.

"Yes Elizabeta?" Polovski questioned in a soft voice that would be fitting for a father talking to his frightened and endangered daughter.

"You need to bring Oleg to him" Emily almost pleaded in an unrecognizably broken voice that was hinted with excruciating physical pain coupled with sleep deprivation.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm not lonely" she weakly said as the team got what she meant. He was listening in and everything she said was being monitored.

"How do you feel?" Polovski was trying to keep the call going for as long as possible as Garcia desperately tried to trace it.

The team could hear Emily wheezing but before she had the chance to speak they heard the unsub again, "GET TO THE FUCKING POINT!" The next noise they could make out was Emily falling to the ground as he removed her from the restraints holding her up and an "oomph" when the barrel of his gun collided with her left temple, again. JJ brought her hand to her mouth to stifle any noises that threatened to escape as tears started to flow freely from her dull blue eyes.

"Elizabeta?"

"TALK TO YOUR FATHER!"

Through the pain and nausea Emily did the only thing she could, she tried to send a message. "Did you find him? D-I-D you find him?" she whispered over her dry heaving before succumbing to the urge to vomit, even though she had nothing left. JJ sunk lower into her chair as she supported her head with her hands. She couldn't believe this was happening. Emily sounded so weak, so defeated. She didn't even sound like Emily anymore.

"I will find him" Polovski assured, feeling pity for the woman on the other end of the phone.

"You have four hours before I kill her, starting now" the unsub ordered as he approached Emily who brought up her hands to protect her head, only to be surprised when the unsub stabbed her just under her left armpit with a small switch blade. The call ended with Emily crying out in pain. The unsub removed the knife and kicked Emily's back, ordering her to get back up to be re-cuffed against the wall. After once again chaining her hands over her head he turned the music back on and left the room. Emily just slunk down further as she watched more blood drain from her body, only this time more steadily. Her wheezing and labored breathing only worsened after the stabbing and Emily knew that wasn't a good sign. She deduced that the unsub wasn't going to be kind enough to shoot her, but rather he was going to let her bleed out slowly, effectively drowning in her own blood over the next few hours.

* * *

"FUCK" Morgan yelled as he threw a pile of case files across the room. Hotch started pacing, trying to think while Garcia continued typing over her tears.

"I can't get a signal. He hung up seconds before the trace finished" she confessed.

Rossi sunk into the chair next to a crying JJ and took her hand. But Reid just stood, still unaware of what to do.

"She spelled for us" JJ said as she cut through the deafening silence.

"What?" Morgan and Hotch asked simultaneously.

"She doesn't ever do that" she commented again as she looked over to Reid who was re-running the phone call and corresponding information through his head.

"She spelled for us. Did you find him? D-I-D she was trying to send us a message. She must think out unsub has dissociative identity disorder! Something about this case has always been off right? Everything always seemed to personal but impersonal, maybe because it is personal just not for our unsub. It's personal for the personality inhabiting him now but he doesn't really have that background. Think about it, he kills Russian prison guards and gang members as surrogates" Reid exclaimed as everything about the case had started to take shape in his mind.

"And a cop" Morgan countered.

"But he shot him in the shoulder. If he wanted he could have shot him in the chest or even better the head, that'd be a guaranteed death but he didn't care about killing Meyer. Maybe because he didn't want to kill him."

"Kid what are you talking about?"

"Think about it, in a fictional setting if a character is shot in the shoulder do they die?"

"No."

"Exactly!"

"He's living out a fictional fantasy. There is no Elizabeta the Russian spy with the gangster father. There is no Oleg and I am willing to bet that our other dead bodies are just surrogates for other fictional people too" Rossi surmised.

"His accent was obviously fake" Hotch added.

"LN" Reid said quietly. "LN! Lucas North, it's a TV show. I knew I had heard of these people before, he's living out a British TV show called Spooks. He must have grown obsessed with it and that obsession coupled with his condition caused him to take on their personalities. It could have been triggered by a personal loss that forced him into finding an escape from his own life and reality in general."

"So this is all a fucking TV show?" Morgan asked confused by the line of thinking.

"No, umm…"

"He's inhabited their personalities. I'm willing to bet that Elizabeta is the lover who scorned him. And now he's writing his own ending" Rossi filled in. "Garcia do a search for men in their 30-40's who have DID but haven't been picking up their medication for months now. Cross check that with building permits for residential homes with basements and with tenets who have cable subscriptions."

"Okay" Garcia said as she began typing with a new sense of purpose. "I have 12 names so far in the San Francisco area and neighboring smaller cities across the bay."

"Cross check that with men who live in a rural area. I thought a saw a speaker in the video, he's probably been using loud music as a torture method. Someone would have complained if they were close enough to hear it" Rossi instructed.

"I have two names now."

"Unemployed" JJ said as the team tuned to face her. "He's wouldn't have a job, he stalks all his victims remember?"

The team nodded as Garcia continued to hack into various databases, "Jeremy Woods, aged 32, diagnosed DID, 2 months ago his caretaker mother died in a car accident and he stopped picking up his medication. He lives in his family's rural farmhouse in La Honda, sending the address to your phones now."

"Okay JJ…"

"I'm coming with" JJ said as firmly as she got off the chair and faced Hotch.

"I was going to say don't take any shots, it'll save me a lot of paperwork" Hotch said with the faintest hint of humor as the team headed to the SUV and geared up. Discretely Hotch pulled JJ aside, "JJ I meant what I said, you cannot shoot Woods."

"And I won't unless I need to."

"JJ you need to trust the team."

JJ groaned as she rubbed her temples, "Hotch the only way me and Emily working together functions for the team is if you trust me to do my job like as if she was anyone else."

"JJ we both know it's not that simple" Hotch stated with a sigh. "I do trust you but the woman you love, the person you have a life with is at risk and we both know how we can react in that instance. Just be vigilant and remember that, ideally, your job does not end when the case does" Hotch concluded as he walked back to the group who was loading up into the SUV. "Morgan call Garcia and have her send the plans of the house to my laptop. Remember this guy thinks he's an agent and he will not go down easily. Hawthorne is sending us backup and a swat team with paramedics on hand but we need to take the lead with a soft infiltration" Hotch warned as he climbed into the single SUV. Under normal circumstances the team would need two vehicles, but these were anything but normal circumstances.

**They're going to get Emily. Will they get there in time? **

**I meant it when I said some of you were on the right track with the Lucas North guess. However, this story was never a crossover of two shows colliding but about an unsub whose fantasy turned deadly.**

**And sorry, it's not a dream. Emily really was abducted. **


	9. Finding Emily

**Thanks for all the reviews so far. They are always appreciated. **

The drive to La Honda was a long one that was due to last over an hour, precisely 1 hour and 14 minutes in current traffic according Reid. The drive was silent, which was abnormal for the normally talkative team. A tentative plan was already in place; Hotch and Morgan were to clear the lower floors while Reid, Rossi, and JJ would clear the top floor of the property. As the minutes passed by JJ thought back to her relationship with Emily, remembering the happier moments they shared together and hoping they had an opportunity for more. Things with Emily were always so natural, they meshed so perfectly together with personalities that complimented each other.

* * *

_It was a late Sunday evening, Emily and JJ were relaxing in JJ's bed. Emily was watching Belle de Jour, without subtitles much to JJ's dismay, while JJ was lying on the bed horizontally, her head resting on Emily's lap, reading a __magazine. They were both tired and were trying to ready themselves for the coming work week._

_"Why can't you be a normal person and watch something like Grey's Anatomy?" JJ complained as the film reached a lull. _

_Emily paused the movie and looked over to JJ, raising an eyebrow. "What's wrong with this?"_

_"I am so bored" JJ groaned in response, prompting laughter from Emily. _

_"Grey's Anatomy is overrated anyway."_

_"What?! Take that back."_

_"How come that hospital never has normal patients? No one ever just shows up with a hernia or the flu. It's always these crazed stories about bombs in people's bodies and stealing organs. Plus I think it's a little derivative."_

_JJ scoffed at Emily's description of the show, "You are such a snob."_

_"I am not a snob" Emily shot back __adamantly, crossing her arms in front of her chest._

_"You are watching a foreign movie without subtitles because you complained the English translation 'oversimplified the nuances of the language.' You my love are a snob. Just admit it and start the damn movie so we can finish it sometime before I'm dead." _

_Emily rolled her eyes at the assessment, "Why do you hate my taste in movies so much? Whenever I pick one you always whine about it."_

_"Because you always pick foreign language movies and I can't understand them. Just please finish the movie so we can have sex or something." __Emily laughed and complied, restarting the movie. JJ finished reading her magazine and turned back to Emily. "I love you."_

_"I love you too."_

_JJ smiled and took Emily's hand, intertwining their fingers. "You know what I love about you?"_

_"What?" Emily asked absent-mindedly._

_"That you're grumpy in the morning" JJ confessed with a sigh._

_Emily turned her head to face the blonde and paused the TV again, "You like that I'm grumpy in the morning?"_

_"Yeah. I don't know, you're always so well put together and proper and I like that you're comfortable enough with me to be grumpy and complain in the morning. I like seeing you wake up. What do you love about me?"_

_Emily laughed at the confession, "You're so corny."_

_"Hey" JJ scolded __playfully as she hit Emily's arm._

_"What? You are."_

_"Whatever" JJ huffed. _

_"Okay I'll tell you."_

_"I thought you said it was corny? Or were you just trying to insult me?" JJ asked with a grin._

_Emily smirked, "Definitely. Okay so what do I love about Jennifer Jareau? Hmm. I'm going to need a minute."_

_"Jerk" JJ heckled with a laugh._

_"I love how you are with victim's families. Because, sure, other people who have your job are good with them too. But you, for you it's more than just a facet of your job, you actually care. And you give of yourself every time no matter how much it takes out of you, because when it comes to people in distress you are completely selfless. And that is what I love about you" Emily concluded with a smile._

_"You are so perfect" JJ remarked as she grazed Emily's cheek with her fingers. "Finish your movie."_

_Emily took a deep breath and chuckled, "Actually I hate it anyway."_

_"WHAT?! All this time I could have been watching Patrick's Dempsey's hair?!"_

_Emily shrugged, "Yeah. You can if you want to. I was going to suggest we have sex but…"_

_"Fuck Patrick Dempsey" JJ interrupted as the couple began to laugh again. _

* * *

JJ was shaken by memories by Reid's voice, "JJ you ready?"

"Yeah" JJ replied as she mentally prepared herself. She couldn't make a mistake, Emily's life was at stake. She had heard what Hotch had said about not taking the shot, and she knew he was right. She would probably lose her job if she killed the unsub who had abducted her girlfriend, whether it was justified or not. But JJ didn't care about her job, sure she loved it but she loved Emily more. There was never going to be a decision between Emily or the BAU because it didn't even warrant a consideration in JJ's mind. It was going to be Emily every single time.

"Okay Morgan I will take the back door. Rossi you breach the front door, remember your assignments" Hotch instructed as the SUV stopped outside of the property gates.

"Well this isn't something I see everyday" Morgan commented as the team filtered out of the vehicle.

"What?" JJ asked. She knew that Morgan was probably the only one that was just as nervous as her.

"I never thought I'd see the day when Rossi kicks in a door with his custom Italian boots" he commented to the amusement of the team.

"Fuck off Morgan" Rossi playfully ordered as he, Reid, and JJ approached the front door and waited for Morgan and Hotch to get into position.

"We're here, breach in 3-2-1" Hotch said over the mics as the teams simultaneously kicked in the doors. JJ ran point up the stairs, with Reid directly behind her and Rossi taking up the rear.

After entering through the back door, Hotch and Morgan immediately found a door that came off the kitchen. Knowing it led to the basement Morgan opened it, with Hotch running in to find Wood facing him with a gun.

"CLEAR" JJ yelled upstairs before she heard a gunshot.

* * *

"CLEAR" Morgan and Hotch heard JJ yell upstairs as Woods lifted his gun. Hotch immediately responded, shooting Woods in the chest three times, causing Woods to fall down the remaining stairs.

"Clear the rest of the downstairs" Hotch instructed as he kicked Woods' gun away and checked his pulse, confirming that the man was dead.

Morgan nodded in response and quickly cleared the rest of the rooms. "DOWNSTAIRS CLEAR, UNSUB DEAD" Morgan yelled as the rest of the team stomped down the stairs. Morgan motioned for JJ to follow him and approached the staircase the lead to the basement. She could hear the deafening music through the door. Hotch waited for JJ to open the door, not wanting to frighten Emily. Morgan rifled through Woods' pockets, looking for the control to turn off the music.

JJ walked through a small hallway and saw Emily, hands chained above her head, body sagging as it tried to remain standing. "Baby" she quietly whispered as she briskly walked up to Emily's body and cupped the other woman's cheek with her hand. She was freezing cold and only then did JJ register the cold temperature of the room. Emily was passed out but still breathing which was a relief to JJ, whose eyes scanned the brunette's body. There was blood caked near her hairline, especially concentrated near her temple. Emily's porcelain skin contrasted from a pale ivory to purple and black, and that's when JJ noticed the gash in Emily's side.

Morgan approached the two woman and handed JJ the key he had removed from Wood' pocket so she could uncuff Emily. JJ took off the handcuffs while the room remained completely silent, the team trying to process the sight before them. Morgan helped guide Emily to the cold concrete floor that was stained with her blood.

"I don't want her in here anymore" JJ whispered to Morgan who nodded. He scanned the room and felt sick just being in there. He wished he could resurrect Woods just to shoot him again. The dark room was freezing cold, the fan still angled at the Emily, the floor stained with her blood and vomit. Morgan noticed that the room was wired with loud speakers and also saw the water boarding plank leaned against the side of the wall. But it was the video camera that made him the most disgusted. Or it was until he saw the car battery and jumper cables sitting off to the side. He cringed when he thought about what the Woods was going to do next with his friend.

"Hotch where are the paramedics?" Morgan asked as JJ soothingly stroked Emily's hair.

"12 Minutes ETA" the stoic unit chief replied as he stared at the room and took a deep breath. "Do you want to carry her or should I?"

"I will" Morgan replied as he gingerly picked up light Emily's body and walked her up the stairs, following JJ's lead.

The three passed by Reid and Rossi, who just watched as Morgan gently placed Emily on the floral sofa in Wood's living room. JJ crouched down next to to Emily and kissed her forehead, running her hands through her hair as Reid brought her a towel from the car to press against Emily's side wound. He heard her whispering, "You're safe now Em. I've got you" over and over again to the brunette and wondered if JJ was saying it for Emily's sake or her own. "Someone needs to call Pen" JJ said not taking her eyes off Emily.

"I will" Rossi offered after glancing over at Morgan's tense body. He knew that Morgan needed to be there, he needed to be present for his partner. Rossi walked into the kitchen as police started to filter through the house. "Garcia this is Rossi we have her."

"Oh my god is my gumdrop okay?"

Rossi chuckled at the term of endearment, "I think she will be. The paramedics are on their way, I think their taking her to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Redwood. Can you stop by the hotel and grab JJ and Emily's go bags before you come down?"

"Of course" Garcia replied, relieved that everything was going to be okay, or at least she hoped so.

"Okay we'll see you soon."

"Sir?"

"Yes Garcia."

"And Morgan?" Garcia asked in a quiet voice.

Rossi exhaled and looked towards the living room, "He's upset but he'll be okay too. See you shortly" he said as he concluded the call.

* * *

A few minutes later the paramedics arrived and loaded Emily onto a stretcher, covering her with a blanket to bring up her body temperature.

"I'm coming with" JJ firmly remarked as she got into the back of the ambulance with the paramedics, who had started to work on Emily. They first bagged her to aid her breathing and then worked on stopping the bleeding from her knife wound. "She's breathing" JJ softly stated to one of the female paramedics in the back of the ambulance.

"Oh yeah honey her breathing is labored but she" the paramedic gestured over to the heart monitor, "she's still with us. Her body has just been under a lot of stress, she also has a collapsed lung."

"Okay" JJ said as she went back to holding Emily's frigid hand. She didn't care about anything else as long Emily was alive, as long as Emily was with her again. JJ lightly kissed Emily's knuckles and smiled.

**The team found Emily, but now her recovery has to begin.**


	10. That Prentiss Ass

**This is a few lighter moments in this chapter after all of the drama/suspense throughout the story. **

_"I hate you both so much now" Morgan complained to a snickering Emily and JJ._

_"What did we do?" Emily asked innocently as the team sat around the conference room table in the BAU._

_"You blabbed to the dragon lady about your little hand to hand combat with blondie over there" Garcia harshly whispered as she pointed over to a blushing JJ. "And now we have to listen to Strauss' version of whose bangin' who."_

_"Ma'am I don't wish to overstep, but is this really necessary?" Hotch asked with irritation in his voice. He felt as though this sexual harassment seminar was a huge waste of time._

_"I agree with Hotch" Morgan added as the team gazed at him with fear in their eyes, fear that only compounded when they noticed the look of pure hatred in Erin Strauss' eyes._

_"Well Agent Morgan that's your opinion. But you do have a record of sexual inappropriateness in the workplace with two of your fellow agents." Strauss confirmed as she flipped through the files, "with Elle Greenway."_

_"Elle!" Hotch spit out._

_"Who was also involved with Agent Jareau" Strauss finished._

_Emily snickered at the look of horror on Morgan's face, "She was my girl JJ, you woman thief!"_

_"Yes it says here that Agent Morgan's relationship with Agent Greenway was reported by third parties who felt, ahem, uncomfortable in your presence. And it also appears that Agent Greenway and Agent Reid were reported for inappropriate behavior by the Los Angeles Police Department" Strauss answered with a scowl._

_"REID!" Morgan shouted as Reid paled._

_"Spence?" JJ questioned lifting an eyebrow up._

_"I-I didn't know you were together, she came on to me! I was vulnerable!"_

_Emily burst into laughter at the admission, "My God Reid, what did you do that was so bad that you actually shocked LA?"_

_Strauss took it upon herself to answer the question, "It says in this report that it involved a janitorial closet and a feather duster."_

_"Feather duster?!" Garcia questioned in a fit of laughter. Rossi smirked at the revelation, he really liked his team. They were his kind of people._

_"And you Agent Garcia, not only are you fraternizing with Kevin Lynch but you were also reported for sexually harassing Agent Morgan."_

_"Morgan!" Garcia yelled as Morgan raised his hands in surrender._

_"I didn't say anything bab…bab-ureau Agent Garcia."_

_"Bab-ureau?" Emily questioned with a smirk as JJ suppressed a smile next to her._

_"Well then who did?" Garcia huffed. "I mean the nerve of people these days. This is how real friends are with each other, there's nothing wrong with that."_

_"An Agent Anderson complained."_

_"Anderson?! He's just jeal…" She trailed off, but everyone else already caught it._

_"Add him to the list" JJ whispered to Emily._

_Strauss slammed the files down on the table and took off her reading glasses, "Enough, I am shocked by the utter sexual deviance of this team and think that you fully need the next four hour seminar I am about to lead. And before you complain you should feel grateful about my leniency in this matter."_

_"Yes Erin why ever were you so lenient?" Rossi asked with a wink._

_"Eww" Reid spoke up before putting his hand to his mouth in horror. He had just insulted his boss's boss._

_"Hmmm" Strauss glared at Reid, who look liked he was praying for death, or at least a sinkhole to swallow him up. "First we are going to begin with appropriate phone call etiquette. I have a transcript from an unnamed Bureau employee who had inappropriate phone conversations with a colleague on FBI time. The transcript will be read and afterwards we will dissect the call and find what needs to be changed."_

_"Calls are monitored?" Garcia questioned in a panicked voice that preceded an audible gulp. She was a tech analyst, how did she not know these things?_

_Strauss ignored the questioned and continued, "Agent Prentiss please read this for us" she ordered as she handed Emily the paper._

_Emily immediately started to bite her tongue to hold back her laughs, "So just start?" Strauss nodded and Emily tried to swallow the laughter that was about to escape. "Okay, 'Hello my chocolate lava pit of love. Hey baby girl can do you something for me? Yeah hot stuff we can do whatever you want. Don't tempt me baby. Oh you'll know when I'm tempting you.'" Emily finished reading with a fake cough, desperately trying to hide her laughter as she looked over to a blushing Garcia and Morgan who had just realized that their phone conversations were being used in FBI sexual harassment seminars._

_"So let's begin with the greeting, how should these agents have greeted each other on an official FBI phone call?"_

_"Fuck me" JJ grumbled, upset over how long the seminar was going to take._

_"It is exactly that attitude that made this seminar necessary Agent Jareau" Strauss scolded as she continued. "Now Agent Reid why don't you start. How should this call have begun?" A good six hours later, yes it was supposed to take four but with Dave Rossi and Penelope Garcia in the class what did you expect? A good six hours later Emily and JJ plopped down into the vacant chairs in Garcia's lair with Garcia and Morgan._

_"That sucked ass" Emily stated bluntly._

_"Yeah thanks for that Prentiss!" Morgan sarcastically added to the amusement of his partner. "Was it worth it?" He winked as he nodded towards JJ. _

_"Is what you're asking appropriate for work time?" Emily questioned with a smirk as Reid silently slipped into the room._

_"Like you've never done anything inappropriate at work. I know for a fact that is not true" Garcia challenged with the group still not acknowledging Reid._

_"You know about my office?" JJ asked with a horrified expression as Emily dreaded the line of questioning that was certain to follow._

_"No, I was joking with you, you pervs! You did it in JJ's office?" Garcia asked with a grin as she winked at the couple, the couple that had forgotten Reid was there too._

_"Ugh, I took a nap on that the other day" he protested as the group of women and Morgan turned towards him._

_Morgan was the first to speak up and with a chuckle asked, "Morning or afternoon?"_

_"Afternoon."_

_"Oh" Emily replied as she looked down._

_"Emily!" JJ scolded the brunette._

_"What?"_

_"You basically just told him."_

_"Gross, I slept on your sex couch" Reid whined as he turned red._

_Emily waved him off, "Please Reid, at some point every couch becomes a sex couch if you've had it long enough. And if that bothers you stay away from the desk too" she advised with a grin._

_"Emily!" JJ squealed, completely embarrassed by what her girlfriend had just said._

_"Maybe Strauss is right, we all have issues" Garcia interjected, prompting laughter among the group._

_"True, but we were only in that seminar because Em caught Strauss and Rossi in a Bureau SVU."_

_"WHAT?" Morgan and Garcia yelled in unison. _

_"Yes" Emily confirmed as she shuddered at the memory._

_"Who knew Strauss was flexible enough to pull that off" Garcia sighed as the rest of the group grimaced._

_JJ shook her head as she went on, "Anyway she was going to disband the team after our dating announcement but the gods looked with favor upon us, and simultaneously punished Emily" JJ chuckled. __Emily rolled her eyes at the horrible memory, "By the way, why does our FBI unit have so many attractive agents? This wouldn't be a problem in any other unit."_

_Emily contemplated JJ's statement and grinned, "True, and I blame Strauss for this negligence."_

* * *

JJ chuckled at the memory as she observed the team in the hospital waiting room. Rossi had gone off in search of coffee, Reid and Garcia were sitting on either side of JJ, Morgan was pacing back and force, and Hotch was standing watch over them all. After having various tests done Emily had been rushed into surgery to repair her punctured lung and knife wound. However, the team still had very little information on the state of Emily's heath.

"Hey what are you thinking about?" Reid asked JJ after hearing her chuckling.

"I was just thinking about our sexual harassment seminar and I guess I was wondering if it'll ever be the same again. Will Emily ever be the same again after this?"

"I don't know JJ" Reid softly said as he took her hand. If he was honest he didn't know if they'd all ever be the same after that. "But if anyone can it's Emily."

"Yeah I know, but even Emily can't be the exception for everything" JJ said after taking a deep breath.

"But buttercup even if things are different you aren't breaking up with gumdrop right?" Garcia asked in a concerned voice.

"God no Pen, why would you even wonder that?"

"I just worry. You two are my inspiration couple and if you ever split up it'd destroy me. I'd lose all faith in love."

JJ smiled at the admission, "Well Pen we aren't a perfect couple."

"I did not say perfect, I said inspiration. But you two are so perfect for each other and are so into each other, and I know you have hot sex" Garcia rambled as JJ blushed profusely.

"Penelope!"

"What? We all know it's true! I've seen you checking out that Prentiss ass plenty o' times" Garcia grinned as JJ somehow turned more red.

"I do not!"

"Jayje please" Garcia scoffed as she waved her off, "Don't worry about it we've all done it."

It was this revelation that piqued JJ's curiosity, prompting her to glance at her different teammates. Hotch seemed to be embarrassed. Morgan looked away, trying to hide his guilt and Reid, Reid began to blush and looked down at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing on the planet. "Spence?" JJ asked as she raised an eyebrow at him.

"W-what?" JJ and the team couldn't help but laugh at him. "Sorry" Reid replied meekly as the team started to laugh again.

Leave it to Garcia to brighten up a moment like that.

* * *

"Agent Prentiss?" A older surgeon asked as he walked up tp the laughing group. He was probably in his late 50's and was wearing a set of green scrubs. He was also wearing a black scrub cap that still covered his dark hair. He scratched at his salt and pepper scruff as he walked up to the group that was now standing. "Is there a Jennifer Jareau here?"

"That's me" JJ spoke up as she walked forward.

"Good evening I'm Agent Prentiss's doctor, Dr. Demps, and I'm just going to walk through the different procedures that we've done so far. Agent Prentiss was brought in with various injuries that were consistent with severe torture. First tests confirmed a pulmonary laceration, which caused her lungs to begin to fill with blood from the knife wound."

"Was that caused by the knife wound?" Morgan asked Dr. Demps.

A redheaded nurse walked up next to Dr. Demps as he answered Morgan's question, "No the punctured lung was caused by a broken rib which had shifted after repeated blunt force trauma. However, we were able to repair the lung in surgery. Right now Agent Prentiss is on a ventilator, which is common for post surgical patients, but I think we can remove it tomorrow. But there are going to be a few things to watch for which your doctor will inform you about before Agent Prentiss is released. Now Agent Prentiss' other injuries include three broken ribs, a concussion, which we will be watching, and a kidney contusion caused by repeated blows to the back. We're also going to keep an eye on that. So far the CT scans show that there is no permanent damage but we're going to keep an eye on her urine output and make sure there is no blood in it. Due to the significant bruising I would recommend that Agent Prentiss remain on bed rest for at least five days after she is released."

"Oh she's going to just love that" JJ sarcastically remarked as Dr. Demps chucked.

"Yes most law enforcement agents do. Finally, per hospital protocol, a member of the sexual assault response team confirmed that Agent Prentiss had not been sexually assault and all tests had come back as negative. However, a blood test did find opiates in her system and it has been confirmed that it was morphine…"

"Heroin" Reid answered as Dr. Demps nodded.

"The body processes Heroin as Morphine" Dr. Demps clarified as Garcia took JJ's hand. "I know this is a lot of information to take in but Agent Prentiss will make a full recovery within four to six weeks, as long as she rests. As of now she has been admitted into the post-op critical care unit, but we are confident she can be moved to a private room on the post-op floor by tomorrow afternoon. And unfortunately since it is after visiting hours and it is the CCU I can only let one of you back with her."

"Go on JJ" Hotch encouraged as she stepped forward.

"Okay Karen here is one of Agent Prentiss' nurses and she will show you to her room. You can stay as long as you'd like. I wish you the best of luck and I'll be checking in on Agent Prentiss a few times before she is discharged."

"Thank you doctor" JJ said with a small smile as she shook the man's hand. She couldn't believe everything Emily had been through, but she was also relieved that she was going to be okay. Emily was safe and Woods was dead, which meant that at least Emily wouldn't have to sit through some trial. Unfortunately JJ knew Emily was going to have to make a formal police statement which would detail the torture she had endured over the past two days. But JJ didn't want to think about that then, she just wanted to enjoy having Emily back.

"If you'd like to follow me Agent" Nurse Karen offered in a kind voice as she led JJ through the hospital corridors.

JJ's breath hitched when she saw Emily lying in a bed, hooked up to all sorts of medical machinery. She was so pale and looked gaunt. The nurse had explained that Emily was severely dehydrated so she was hooked up to IVs to care for that and that a central line was put in for pain management. But it was the ventilator that bothered JJ the most, it made Emily seem so helpless. JJ took Emily's hand into her own and was ecstatic that it wasn't as cold as before. After hours of just watching over Emily, JJ fell asleep in the visitor's chair that she had pulled next to Emily's bed, still clutching Emily's hand. Under normal circumstances JJ would have found it almost impossible to sleep because of the heart monitor, but in this situation the persistence beeping became a most cherished sound.

**Emily wakes up in the next chapter. How is she doing emotionally after all of the torture?**

**Will she open up to JJ about what happened? **

**Will JJ ever find out what was on the tapes? ****Will Morgan? How will the others react when they find out Rossi, Reid, and Hotch have been hiding things from them? **


	11. The Trail of Tears

**This chapter is a bit short, but it's mainly setting up some future drama as Emily recovers. **

Her eyes were still closed and Emily had no idea where she was. She felt drugged, but that wasn't anything new. Was she on a bed? Had the unsub brought in a mattress, had she, had she… Emily started to panic. Someone was touching her, holding her hand. _Did I fuck the unsub?! How do I not remember something like that?! _She couldn't breathe as she felt her chest tightening. What was in her throat? What had he done to her this time? _Fuck fuck fuck fuck _Emily internally rambled as she became hysterical, finally opening her eyes and jerking at the IV's and breathing tube until she noticed JJ warm eyes staring at her. The blonde was saying something, but it didn't register, everything appeared fuzzy and sounded muffled.

"Emily you're okay, you're okay" JJ coaxed repeatedly as Emily realized where she was. She was in a hospital, with JJ. Emily tried to respond and say, deceptively, that she was fine, but she was prevented from doing so by the breathing tube. "Baby don't try to talk" JJ gently requested as she lightly pressed her finger to her lips to make her point. "It's a breathing tube, that's all it is. You're safe now. Okay?"

Emily nodded in response. She hated appearing so weak, so broken. _How did the unsub break me in only three days time? How the fuck does that happen? What kind of FBI agent am I? I'm better than this. I'm supposed to be trained for this shit._

"They wanted to remove it as soon as you woke up. I need to page the nurse. Okay?"

Another nod, another feeling of embarrassment. Emily hated being spoken to like a child. It was even worse coming from JJ, the person who had always seen her as so strong, so invincible.

JJ stood up and pressed the call button for the nurse before turning her attention back on Emily. "Are you in pain?" She worriedly asked as she took Emily's hand in her own, rubbing small circles on the smooth skin.

Emily shook her head 'no.' Yeah, it was a lie but she was so tired of being drugged. How people could get addicted to that feeling was beyond her. Emily Prentiss needed control, and narcotics didn't lend themselves to the level of control that Emily wanted, no needed.

"Okay" JJ smiled as Emily's nurse entered.

"Good morning Agent Prentiss, I'm Karen and I'll be your nurse for the day shift. I'm willing to bet that you're ready to have your breathing tube removed aren't you?" Emily nodded her head furiously in response, further irritating her already sore throat. "Okay, just relax. I've paged your doctor and he's on his way. From now let's have you blink to communicate so you don't make your throat anymore raw than it already is. Okay? Blink once for 'yes' and twice for 'no.'"

Emily blinked once.

"Good job baby" JJ smiled as Emily couldn't help but roll her eyes. _Yes I can blink, what a fucking achievement. Where's my Nobel Prize? _

"Okay today we're going to have Dr. Beaumont remove your breathing tube and then your surgeon Dr. Demps will probably come by later this afternoon to check up on you and see when we can move you to the post-op unit. So just hold tight and you'll be complaining to go home in no time" Nurse Karen smiled as she took Emily's vitals and left the room.

* * *

JJ didn't know what to do in the situation at hand. She was grateful that Emily was alive, but Emily was really grumpy, even more cranky than usual. "So…" JJ trailed off trying to think of a subject to talk about that Emily didn't have to respond to much. "The team wants to see you soon. Is that okay."

One blink.

"Hotch needed to talk to you about something related to the case. I'm sorry, I know it's going to be hard, but I talked to him and he said I can be there. Do you want me to be there?" JJ asked hopefully.

Two blinks.

"Oh, okay" JJ remarked in a dejected voice as she looked down to the floor. The couple's awkward interactions were interrupted by a handsome young doctor who looked to be in his late 20's.

"Good morning Agent, I'm doctor Connor Beaumont and I'm here to remove your breathing tubes and talk a bit about your post-op care while we wait for Dr. Demps your surgeon. First we'll remove this pesky thing" he said with an easy smile as he pointed to the breathing tube. "And then we will talk to you a bit about your current injuries and how we are going to go about treating them."

Emily blinked once to show her understanding as the breathing tube was removed, immediately prompting her to cough violently before JJ handed her a cup of water.

"I'm fine" Emily stated in a raspy voice, wincing as the cold water hit her throat.

"The soreness will subside in a few days" Dr. Beaumont assured as he quickly looked down to Emily's chart. "So I understand you have been through quite a lot and I'm just going to run down a few of the injuries you've sustained. I want to begin to say how lucky you are."

_Oh yeah, I'm just the luckiest person on the fucking planet. _"Okay" Emily agreed as JJ took her hand and smiled at her. Emily tried to smile back, but JJ could tell there was a distinct vacantness in Emily's eyes.

"When you were admitted you had a punctured lung, which has been fixed in surgery. However, you also suffered three broken ribs, which does complicate things a bit. You see, when you were on the breathing tube we could be assured that you were getting enough oxygen to keep the lungs inflated, which is a definite concern after a lung has already collapsed. Now typically when a patient has rib injuries, because of the pain they often take more shallow breaths than they should and considering your condition that worries us. So I am going to recommend that, even though it is painful, you force yourself to take a deep breath at least once an hour. Okay?"

"Yeah it's fine" Emily replied.

"Good. We're going to keep in the central line for your pain management but your nurse will be removing your IV's as soon as I leave you. After your severe kidney bruising we've been checking on your urine output and there looks to be no blood in it so that is a great sign" Dr. Beaumont assured as Emily blushed.

This was horrifying for her, and even worse JJ was in the room, hearing about urine output. Her urine output.

"Other than keeping an eye on the concussion, which your partner said you're already well-versed in" Emily couldn't help but chuckle. She was probably more knowledgable about concussion care than her doctor. "And keeping your wound clean you should be be back to new shortly, after your five days of bed rest of course…" the young doctor trailed off as he backed away from Emily when he saw the look in her eyes.

"Five days!" Emily yelled.

"Emily" JJ scolded as Karen, the nurse, started to giggle.

"That is ridiculous" Emily huffed as she crossed her arms defiantly.

"I'm sorry Ma'am" the young doctor offered, this was going downhill fast. _She seemed so pleasant_.

"Ma'am! Is that why you're doing this to me because your think I'm old?!"

"No" Dr. Beaumont gasped "I'm just an intern" he defended.

"Well go get a real doctor then" Emily ordered sternly in her best 'Agent Prentiss' voice.

"I am a real doctor" he argued quietly as JJ shot him a sympathetic look, while trying not to burst into laughter herself.

"I carry a gun."

"Emily!" JJ scolded as she rolled her eyes at the empty threat.

"Well I think I'm done here, get well soon Agent" Dr. Beaumont offered as he scurried out of the room while Karen removed Emily's IV's. Emily was watching her intently until she heard chuckling in her hospital room, looking up to see Morgan laughing.

"What's so funny?"

Morgan shrugged, "It is never going to be tough to track you down in a hospital."

"And why is that?"

JJ shared a look with Morgan and answered, "You just follow the trail of tears left by the medical professionals whose confidence you've destroyed."

Emily glared at her girlfriend as Karen tried to camouflage her giggles. "Anyway, how is Meyer?" She inquired as JJ's heart sunk. How was she going to tell Emily that the detective she had become fast friends with didn't make it? She was certain that somehow Emily was going to make this her fault, wondering if she, from the confines of a psychopath's torture dungeon, could have done something more.

"What aren't you telling me?" Emily questioned in a defeated voice as she observed the body language of two people in front of her. It wasn't even a question she had to ask. She already knew the answer.

**There is some foreshadowing in this chapter, mainly showing how the dynamic between Emily and JJ is going to be more strained for a while. **

**And some of you are on the right track with your predictions about how the rest of this story is going to play out, but I'm not giving away anything yet. However, the heroin reveal in the previous chapter does come into play, just not in the way you'd think. **

**Coming up soon, Ambassador Prentiss shows up and Emily has to make a statement to the police, which leads to some team tension. **

**Any predictions? **


	12. I Don't Recall Anything

**Emily finds out the truth about Meyer and makes her police statement. **

**Additionally, a new piece of information leaves one team member at odds with Hotch. Who is it? What did he or she find out? **

"Anyway, how is Meyer?" Emily inquired as JJ's heart sunk. How was she going to tell Emily that the detective she had become fast friends with didn't make it? She was certain that somehow Emily was going to make this her fault, wondering if she, from the confines of a psychopath's torture dungeon, could have done something more.

"What aren't you telling me?" Emily questioned in a defeated voice as she observed the body language of two people in front of her. It wasn't even a question she had to ask. She already knew the answer.

"He didn't make it" JJ admitted sadly as she sat next to Emily and took her hand.

Emily sighed at the news. Internally she was devastated. Internally she blamed herself for a lack of vigilance. _Fuck, h__ow could I have let this happen? How could I have let my guard down like that? Why didn't I fight back harder? And now Meyer is gone. He is fucking dead, because someone wanted me__. _

However, externally Emily looked to be the example of calm and unaffected. "Well these things happen" Emily remarked coldly with a shrug.

"Yeah?" Morgan asked in an agitated voice, raising an eyebrow. The subject of a deceased cop killed in the line of duty and leaving behind a family was a touchy subject for him, and he couldn't believe that his partner was so carefree about it.

"We all know the risks when we join."

"Okay, so that makes it less tragic?" Morgan questioned, a little more emotional than he should have been, considering Emily's current condition.

"I'm not saying that. I'm saying that we all know the risks every time we go into the field and I don't know why I have to be held responsible for every cop making it home to his family…"

"Emily" JJ gently interrupted. She knew this was going downhill fast. She needed Emily to have all the support she needed from the team, not for her to piss off Morgan who, granted, was being an insensitive dick.

"No JJ" Emily said abruptly to JJ before turning her attention back to her partner. "What did you want me to do Morgan? What could I have done? Am I supposed to fucking torture myself for the rest of my life because one cop didn't make it?" Except that was exactly what Emily was doing. She was desperately trying to convince herself otherwise, but it wasn't working.

"You know what…I'm going to tell the team you're up" Morgan huffed as he stomped out of the room and loudly closed the door behind him.

JJ watched Morgan's retreating form and sighed. "Emily…"

"Don't start with me JJ" Emily snapped as she tried to turn over on her side and winced in pain.

"Are you okay?" JJ asked in a concerned voice as she walked closer to Emily and brushed a few strands of hair out of her face. She gingerly ran her fingers over Emily's arm, prompting the brunette to flinch at the contact.

"I'm fine."

"Emily you need to talk to me."

"About what? I don't see what the issue is here" Emily lied as she closed her eyes and swallowed lightly.

"The issue here is that you were abducted and tortured non-stop by some sociopath. Baby, there's nothing wrong with having trouble with that. I just want you to open up with me."

"You should get some rest, at the hotel" Emily commented, completely ignoring JJ's prior statement. "You just the flu and the hospital probably isn't the best place for you…"

"I'm not leaving you."

"It's not your needed here to keep vigil over me. What do you think…" Emily's thoughts were cut off by the team, except Morgan, entering into the small hospital room.

"Oh my gumdrop how are you?!" Garcia half squealed half asked as she ran up to Emily and engulfed her in a gentle hug.

"I'm good thanks" Emily replied with a fake smile.

"That's good kiddo" Rossi spoke up, even though he knew she was lying.

"Thanks for finding me and everything" Emily said as she started to pick at her fingernails nervously. She didn't want to talk about the state the team found here in. She was completely embarrassed by it.

"Don't think you have to thank us for that Prentiss" Hotch said warmly. "You're part of this team and we would be willing to do anything for a member of our team."

"Well thanks anyway."

After a few minutes of idle chitchat Rossi offered to take Garcia, Reid, and JJ for some coffee to allow Emily and Hotch to talk.

* * *

"How are you really?" Hotch questioned in a kind voice as he sat in the chair near Emily's hospital bed.

"I'm doing okay. I'm going to be okay" Emily smiled. It was a mantra she had been repeating in her head over and over again. _You're fine. You're going to be fine. It's not that big of deal. These things happen. _"These things happen."

Hotch looked surprised by the remark, "They do?"

"It happened to Reid."

"And it nearly destroyed him."

"Well I'm not Reid" Emily firmly stated as she clenched her fists under the bed sheet, her body becoming more rigid.

"No, you're not" Hotch agreed, noticing her tense body language. "If you need to talk…"

"Thanks" Emily interrupted, hoping that he wouldn't press the issue.

Hotch nodded before he continuing on, "You need to make a statement."

"I know."

"They want do it sooner rather than later. I can put them off but…"

"Are they already here?" Hotch nodded in reply. "Just send them in, it's fine."

"You just got out of surgery not even ten hours ago. Emily, I can make them wait."

"Honestly it's fine" Emily shrugged.

"Did JJ tell you that she and I could be there with you?"

"Yeah and I prefer you weren't. No offense" Emily responded as she took her hourly deep breath and cracked her knuckles. The breath sent a wave of pain throughout her body, which Hotch immediately picked up on.

"Do you need me to get the nurse?" He asked in worried voice.

"No its fine" Emily responded yet again. Everything was 'fine' with her. She was fine. _Aren't I? _

"Emily if you're in pain…"

Emily waved him off, "It already went away. Anyway send them in."

"Okay" Hotch agreed as he stood from the visitor's chair and walked out of the room. He knew she wasn't fine. He knew she was struggling. You didn't need to be a world-class profiler to see it, but there was nothing he could do for her until she wanted help. He realized that she was trying to convince herself, more so than anyone else, that she was fine. But she wasn't fine. And how could she be?

* * *

"So buttercup how is gumdrop, really?" Garcia asked after taking a sip of coffee. She had waited for Reid and Rossi to head off to find the restroom before speaking up.

"You asked her."

"Yeah, but it's not like she's the most open person in the world. How is she really?" Garcia inquired again with an eyebrow raised.

JJ rubbed her temples and sighed, "She won't talk to me Pen. She basically asked me to leave, no not basically, explicitly. She explicitly asked me to leave before you guys showed up. And then Morgan made everything worse by being overly sensitive about Meyer dying…"

"Yeah he was ranting to me about it and I gave him a timeout" Garcia smiled which made JJ laugh.

"I get that he was upset, it was a stupid comment she made. But…"

"But right now isn't about my chocolate Adonis and his feelings" Garcia said, completing JJ's thought.

"Exactly!"

Garcia took JJ's hands over the table and squeezed them in a reassuring manner, "I know you're worried and you have a right to be, but she needs time to process what happened to her. Maybe she's embarrassed by the phone call or something. You know how Emily hates to show any sort of weakness."

"I know" JJ agreed as she hung her head in disappointment. "I'm worried that it'll destroy her and us. Before we left for fucking San Francisco we were talking about moving in together and now she doesn't even want me around."

"It's only been half a day, give her some time before you start worrying."

"Thanks Pen" JJ gratefully commented with a genuine smile. Garcia was right. Emily just needed time to process everything and get over her embarrassment, and then she should would open up. Right?

* * *

Two detectives entered into Emily's hospital room, walking in with a sense of purpose. There was no question that they weren't there for a friendly visit. They were both dressed in suits and ties but other than that nothing about them stood out to Emily. She didn't notice their appearance or bother remembering their names. What was the point? Because as soon as she saw them her mind went to Meyer. Elliot Meyer who had a wife and children. Elliot Meyer who had a few months left on the job before retiring and died because of her. She shook the thoughts from her head, trying to focus on the situation at hand. She was going to have to recount step by step everything that had happened to her over the last few days, including the humiliation and the feelings of helplessness. And that is when Emily did something she hadn't done in years, since Ian Doyle. She lied in her official statement.

"Agent Prentiss, were you held against your will by Jeremy Woods?"

"Yes."

"What exactly transpired when you were abducted?"

"I exited Detective Meyer's car" Emily cleared her throat after uttering the name of the fallen detective. "And I was struck by an object in an alleyway in Chinatown."

"Do you recall Detective Elliot Meyer being shot?"

"No."

"Do you remember being transported to where you were held?"

"No."

"Do you remember anything about where you were held?"

"I think it was a basement."

"In his home?"

"Probably."

"And what do you remember about your time with Jeremy Woods? Start from the beginning please."

"I don't recall anything." _Liar._ That was a lie. The simple fact was Emily remembered everything about her time with Jeremy Woods. She remembered every feeling, every image, every taste, every smell, even how the air moved in dark room. Everything about her time with Woods tortured her. Everything. It was imprinted on her soul.

"You don't remember anything?" The other detective asked suspiciously.

"No. Maybe it was the concussion or the drugs" Emily offered. It was a good excuse as any.

"Agent Prentiss as of now your official statement is that you don't recall anything about the twenty six hours you were held with Jeremy Woods. Is that correct?"

"Correct."

"Okay then" the other detective stated as he took out his card and handed it to her. "In case you remember anything."

She nodded in reply as they walked out of the doors to find Morgan waiting for them. He was feeling guilty over how he had treated his partner about Meyer's death. He wanted, no needed, to be there for her, even if she said she was fine doing it alone.

"How did she do?" Morgan asked, wondering why the questioning had gone by so fast.

"Couldn't remember anything" the lead detective shrugged. "It doesn't matter though, we have the tapes."

_Tapes? As in plural? _"Tapes?"

"The ones that were handed over to Agent Hotchner" the detective offered with a confused look.

"There was only one tape though" Morgan replied, also a little confused. He has only seen one tape, and he was positive he had only been told about one tape too.

"No, a second one came in the night before Agent Prentiss was found and was handed over to Agent Hotchner" the other detective answered as the two briskly walked away, leaving Morgan stewing in the hallway. Why had Hotch lied to him? Who else knew about the other tape? What else about the investigation had been kept from him?

**Morgan doesn't seem too happy about this latest revelation and now Emily is lying on official police inquiries. What else could go wrong? ****How about a visit from an unwanted visitor. Any predictions on who it is? It should be a pretty easy guess.**

**The next chapter also contains more tension from 'tape-gate' and Emily and JJ appear to get back on the right track again…or do they? **


	13. Code Blue Blood

**Just a heads up, we're winding down with this story as soon as a few issues are resolved. Like I hinted earlier, the heroin issue will come up, just in a roundabout way.**

**It is more of a crime/abduction story than a recovery story, but I'm debating on different Emily/JJ story lines for a sort of sequel. If you have any suggestions feel free to leave them for me in the reviews section. Thanks again for reading/reviewing. **

Morgan was shocked that Hotch would have the audacity to hide information about the case from him. He hid evidence from him, evidence that could have helped them find Emily sooner. But what really bothered him was a single question. _Who else knew? _Who did Hotch trust more than him? it was obviously not Garcia, she would let him know what was going on in a heartbeat. Then there was JJ, who obviously didn't know because Hotch did share information with her either. There was Rossi, of course Rossi knew. Fucking David Rossi knew everything. But the real question was Reid. Did Hotch trust Reid more than him?

The thoughts raced through his mind as he sought out his unit chief, who was on the phone outside of the hospital.

"That was Strauss, it turns out…"

Morgan immediately interrupted the other man, "Have you been hiding evidence from me?"

"Morgan" Hotch warned, already knowing where this conversation was headed.

Morgan shook his head in disbelief, "So you're not denying it then."

"I made the decision that would best help us bring Prentiss home and I stand by it" Hotch replied adamantly.

"Oh really? How is withholding information from one of your profilers helping Emily?"

"Because I knew you would get too emotional Morgan."

Morgan laughed bitterly at the assumption, "I am fucking good at my job Hotch."

Hotch crossed his arms and lowered his voice, "I am not claiming that you aren't. I'm saying that in that moment you would be too emotional to see anything useful anyway, it would be torturous for you for no good reason. We all were…"

"Who else besides Rossi knew?" Morgan inquired, already knowing the answer but wanting clarification just in case.

"Reid."

"Reid! Fucking Reid! You trust Reid to reign in his emotions over me?"

"Can you blame me? Look at you Morgan. I think that deep down you know you would be too emotional and that is what you are so upset about this in the first place. We found Emily, she's fine. Go talk to her if you're worried about her, but do not for a second think that you can question my judgement on this case…"

"I'm upset because you didn't trust in my abilities. That is what I am upset about not Emily" Morgan firmly stated as he walked away.

Hotch ran his hands through his hair upset over his interaction with his subordinate. He was just trying to protect the team, and Morgan should have known that. Hotch shook his head as he walked inside to try to warn Emily and JJ of the impending doom. Sadly, he was too late.

* * *

"CODE BLUE BLOOD" an out of breath Garcia shrieked as she ran into Emily's hospital room, where Emily had been napping and JJ was reading a magazine. The screaming had frightened Emily, who woke up terrified of what was going on, fearful that she was back in that basement.

"What?!" Emily yelled as she shot up in the bed, immediately wincing in pain.

"It's okay baby it's just Penelope behaving like an absolute moron" JJ gently told Emily as she shot Garcia a dirty look for scaring her girlfriend. "What the hell is the matter with you?"

"But…"

Emily shook her head to try to wake herself up and interrupted the technical analyst, "Yeah Garcia. You do know that yelling 'code blue' in the post-op unit of the hospital is not the smartest thing to do."

"But I saw her!"

"Who?" JJ and Emily simultaneously asked, worried that Garcia had some sort of a nervous breakdown.

"The Ambassador" Garcia informed the couple, causing them to gasp.

"W-what…"

"Yes gumdrop your mother, your mother who hated JJ and called her dowdy."

"She called me dowdy?" JJ asked in a angry tone. She did not know about this. "Well that's just plain rude. It's not like all of us are of the great Prentiss breed and can afford Chanel."

"Hey" Emily scolded, "When you say that you're insulting me too."

"Oh sorry baby" JJ grimaced, "You know what I meant."

"Anyways you gots to get got blondie" Garcia admonished as she looked out into the hallway to check for the pitter patter of Prada.

"Yeah get out of here" Emily agreed as she shooed JJ away.

"Why?" JJ asked confused until she turned to a blushing Emily, "You didn't tell her!"

"Here's the thing…"

"Are you embarrassed of me?" JJ asked in a half furious half dejected voice.

"No, but my mother is my mother. She will not be enthused about this one bit" Emily honestly replied as she motioned to space between her and JJ. "I already had to endure a day of beating and I would prefer to avoid another one."

JJ gave Emily a loving look, understating that this wasn't the right time to reveal their relationship. However, she had made a grave error. She trusted Garcia to be the lookout and leaned down to give Emily a soft unhurried kiss. Garcia, being the women she was, watched in awe of the couple, missing the Ambassador walking up behind her. The Ambassador loudly cleared her throat, prompting Garcia to jump and Emily and JJ to clumsily pull apart.

* * *

"Mother" Emily said uncomfortably as she pushed JJ away and watched Garcia scurry like a rat out of the room.

"Emily" the Ambassador said coldly as she turned to JJ, "And who is your special friend?"

"Umm" Emily began as she bit the bottom of her lip. "Mother you know how some people are bisexual?"

"Yes."

"Well I'm one of those 'some people'" Emily awkwardly stated as JJ tried to suppress a giggle, earning a glare from the Ambassador. It was somehow more frightening than the glares of Strauss, Emily, and Hotch all combined.

"And this woman did this to you? This Jareau woman made you gay?"

"Well…"

"Emily Prentiss I did no such thing" JJ scolded.

"To be fair I never had a problem with this before" Emily said with a cheeky grin.

"And what about your Yale three-ways?"

The Ambassador gasped at the revelation. "Oh mother can you please save your pearl clutching for another time."

"I must say I do not like this carefree Emily one bit."

"Carefree?"

"Yes, where you go around philandering with whomever you so please. I mean aren't you twenty years too old to be experimenting?" Emily rolled her eyes at the comment as JJ strategically tried to move closer to Emily for protection. "And this woman no less."

"Hey" JJ whined.

"She's from Pittsburgh for God's sake."

"Actually I'm from East Allegheny…"

"Oh my god that is somehow worse" The Ambassador complained as JJ started to feel like maybe Emily was right to begin with. _Is it to late to hide under the bed?_

"Well thank you for the visit mother, you've really lifted my spirits" Emily remarked sarcastically.

"Emily how dare you try to throw me out after I came all this way" the Ambassador huffed as she looked for a sanitary place to put her purse down, she decided there was none to be found.

"I did not invite you…"

"Oh I am well aware of that. I had to learn that my only child was abducted from her boss…"

"Strauss" Emily whispered angrily.

"Yes, thank god for Erin because this one you're dating" The Ambassador choked at the term, "didn't have the decency to call me."

"I swear I choose the water boarding over this" Emily dryly quipped to JJ, who couldn't help but smile. All they needed was Elizabeth Prentiss to bring the old Emily back.

"I for one am insulted by that remark."

"Well mother it was an insult" Emily shot back with a glare. "Can we please talk about this later? I am so very ill" Emily stated as she lifted up her IV and faked a cough, sending a wave of real pain throughout her body.

"Fine, but we are talking at this later" The Ambassador ordered as she nodded over to an offended JJ.

Emily waited for the Ambassador to leave the room before turning to a shocked JJ. No one had ever hated JJ that much before. She couldn't believe that Elizabeth Prentiss thought she was some dowdy hick.

"That went better than I expected" Emily confessed with a genuine grin.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me" JJ scoffed as she crossed her arms.

Emily took her hourly deep breath and started laughing, "No really that is about as good as it could have gone."

"You're mom is a…"

"Fucking nightmare is the term I believe you are looking for." Emily cracked as she yawned. She was exhausted but hated sleeping in front of JJ, constantly worried that her inevitable nightmares would make her girlfriend worry about her.

But before JJ could comment on Emily needing a nap, Morgan walked through the door. "Emily, can we, can we talk?"

"Sure" Emily agreed as she looked over to JJ, signaling her that she should leave the room. JJ just nodded in reply and walked away, leaving the two partners to talk amongst themselves.

"Can I ask you something?"

**Morgan and Emily have a heart to heart.** **And so does Jemily in our upcoming penultimate chapter. **

**Thanks again for reading/reviewing. **


	14. I Will Always Put You Back Together

**This chapter features a softer side of Emily along with an ****Emily/Morgan moment, and, of course, an Emily/JJ moment that explains why I chose the title of this work.**

"Can I ask you something?" Morgan asked as he looked downat his hands apprehensively.

"Anything" Emily replied in a warm voice as she smiled at the man, hoping to put him at ease. She hated how nervous everyone was acting around her, it was as if she was going to have a panic attack if they looked at her the wrong way.

"Do you think that I get too emotional…" he drifted off as Emily rolled her eyes.

"Morgan we both know that is not what you want to ask me. You already know that answer, so try again" she firmly told him as he went to sit on the visitor's chair next to her bed.

Morgan took a deep breath before speaking again, "Do you trust me? Like when it came to finding you, did you trust me…"

Morgan frowned as Emily's snickering interrupted him, prompting her to explain herself. "Derek, you know I trust you. You're being ridiculous about all of this. I swear to God you must be manstrating" she teased as he scowled.

"Manstrating?"

Emily shrugged at the man, "If you don't like the term take it up with Garcia. Anyway, we both know that is this a conversation that you should be having with Hotch because he is who you are upset with. This is about the other tape right?" She asked with a knowing look.

"How did you…"

Emily waved him off, "Please, when will you finally make peace with the fact that I know everything." Morgan rolled his eyes before Emily clarified, "Rossi told me about the tapes, and he told me who saw them. I figured you would be upset that they hid evidence from you, probably because it made you feel a little inadequate, and it shouldn't have. Morgan, I'm glad that you didn't have to see the other tape. It wasn't like there was any point, there were no clues on it anyway, and I think you already know that. It would have just tortured you for nothing, and you running off to go watch it would have probably gotten JJ's attention and she was stressed enough as it was." Emily sighed as she fiddled with the bandage near her temple, "You took care of JJ and I will always trust you with that responsibility. We both know that she is all that really matters to me."

Morgan nodded at the comment, "I just didn't want to feel like the team was questioning me, as if I would fail you."

Emily gently shook her head, wincing in pain as she did, "I think you're reading too much into this…probably because you're too emotional" Emily added with a grin that made Morgan laugh. "But I'm relieved that not everyone…"

"Saw it" Morgan completed as Emily nodded. "Emily, you can't think that what happened to you makes you weak. It happens, it happened to Reid."

"Yeah, we'll I'm not Reid" she snapped as she picked at her fingernails.

"You don't always have to be so strong you know."

Emily rolled her eyes at the statement, "That's rich coming from you." Morgan laughed at the remark since there was a lot of truth to it. The simple fact was that the two partners uniquely understood each other mostly because they were so similar. "He broke me in like a day and a half" she quietly uttered in embarrassment.

"Emily, he relentlessly tortured you. You had no relief whatsoever. There is nothing to be ashamed of" he adamantly stated as he took her hand. "I know that you told the police that you don't remember what happened to you, but we both know that you weren't exactly being truthful. Now I'm not saying that you need to talk about what happened with me, but I think you should talk about it with someone."

"I'm required to go a FBI therapist" Emily shrugged in reply.

Morgan laughed at the statement. Like Emily Prentiss was ever going to be completely honest about her innermost feelings with a therapist. How could she ever think he would buy that? How many painkillers did they have her on in this place? "Sure Princess, because I am sure that you're going to open up to them like _that_" Morgan sarcastically said as he snapped his fingers.

"Hey, sarcasm is my thing" she pouted with a small smile.

"Girl, you don't got a monopoly on snark" he informed her in a playful tone before giving her a reassuring smile. "But really Emily, you need to talk to JJ about what happened. I'm telling you that this whole pushing her away thing is fine for right now. Yeah, maybe she'll tolerate it. But eventually she's going to stop pushing back and you're going to lose her. I've already seen what you were like once when you lost her and I don't ever want to see it again. Be honest with your woman" he ordered in a kind tone as Emily chuckled at his choice of wording.

"My woman…"

"For now, if you keep those Prentiss walls up that may change" He warned her before flashing a smile. "You're baby girl's inspiration couple and I don't think anyone would want to be in a five-mile radius of her if you two ever broke up."

"She certainly is invested" Emily chuckled before her voice became quiet again, "It's just, I'm supposed to be better than this. It's embarrassing what he was able to do to me. It's embarrassing how I let my guard down. I'm a trained fucking federal agent and I was abducted by some Neanderthal who thought he was living in a TV show."

"Do you honestly believe that JJ is going to think any less of you because of that?" Morgan scoffed as he shook his head at the absurd line of thinking. "Would you think any less of her if it happened to her? Prentiss, she loves you and was worried sick that you'd never come home to her. It's time to come home to her Emily" he encouraged as he squeezed her hand and got up from the chair to leave, pausing in the doorway as he heard her speak up.

"Thanks Morgan."

"Anytime Princess, anytime."

* * *

JJ watched through the hospital room window as Emily continuously picked at her nails until one began to bleed, causing Emily to frown at the nail like it had done something wrong. JJ shook her head and smiled at the sight before taking a deep breath and walking into the room. "Hey" she greeted warmly as she sat next to Emily, taking the brunette's hand into hers.

"Hey" Emily greeted back with a smile.

"You've been picking at your nails again…"

"What are you my mother?" Emily asked in a mock angry voice.

JJ giggled at the other woman, "If I was your mother you would have thrown yourself under the bed and tried to pretend that you weren't here. My god that woman is…"

"Going to outlive us all" Emily filled in with a sigh as JJ started laughing.

JJ ran her hands nervously through her hair as she prepared to speak up again. She hated how uncomfortable and strained things were with Emily. They were never so distant with each other before, not even when the blonde briefly chose Will over the brunette. Okay, granted, maybe that was an exaggeration. "Umm Em we need to talk about something."

"Yeah?" Emily asked with an eyebrow raised, motioning for her girlfriend to go on.

"I have good news. I was talking to a few of the nurses and they said we can fly back to Quantico tomorrow. We can go home, but…"

"But?"

"Em, when they first admitted you the surgeon told me about the heroin, and, well, they need to send you home with pain medication and…" JJ awkwardly drifted off as Emily shook her head in disbelief.

"What are you saying Jennifer?" Emily asked in a stern voice. "What are you getting at?"

"Well, how do you want to do the whole pain medication thing considering…"

"Considering you now think that I'm a fucking heroin addict, right? Is that what you think?"

JJ gulped slightly, she didn't mean to make her girlfriend this upset. But this was something that she needed to address before things got out of control. Better to prevent it from happening and nip it in the bud right? "No, I just, you know the statistics on heroin addiction and…"

"Well good thing I'm not a heroin addict then" Emily replied adamantly as she crossed her arms over her chest, cringing as a sharp pain shot through her body.

"Baby, are you okay?" JJ asked in a concerned voice as she stroked Emily's hair before the profiler pulled away from her touch. "I was just thinking that maybe I could hold on to the pills for you just in case…"

"In case what?" Emily interrupted again.

JJ voice became even softer as she addressed her offended partner, "Em, it happens and I just wanted us to be prepared just in case this was an issue. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"You're fucking unbelievable, why would you think I would become a junkie?!"

"Emily he injected you with heroin, you can't be surprised that this would worry me. I mean you saw what happened with Spence…"

"Yeah Reid, not me" Emily interjected with a bitter laugh. "I'm not fucking Reid okay? I can take this, it's fine. It's fine okay? It's fine, I'm fine. It's not a big deal, it happened and it's over" Emily repeated almost like a mantra as her voiced cracked.

"Baby…" JJ gently said as she tenderly framed Emily's face with her hands. "Can you please tell me what's going on?"

"I just hate the way you're looking at me right now" Emily admitted in defeat. "I hate how I sounded on the phone, I hate how weak I felt. I hate all of it, and I hate how you see me now…" she trailed off as she blinked away the tears in her eyes that threatened to fall.

"Hey" JJ replied softly, garnering the attention of her girlfriend. "Emily Prentiss I need you to understand that I will never see you as weak, you are the strongest person I know. So many people would have just given up in the basement after all he put your through, but you didn't. You didn't because you are Emily Prentiss and you will always be that person to me, even when you don't feel like her yourself."

Emily sighed and closed her eyes, "I just feel so broken."

JJ cleared her throat as a few tears rolled down her cheek. She hated how her girlfriend felt, and all she wanted to do was fix everything for her, snap her fingers and make everything better. But she couldn't. Her only option was to just try to get through to her as best she could and hope that she listened. Hope that one sentence, one phrase, even one word penetrated her walls. "You're not broken, you're just gently used" JJ quipped as Emily laughed. It was a real laugh, the first real laugh since before San Francisco, one that send pain through her ribs, but she didn't care. JJ smiled at the laugher that filled the small room before she continued. "I know that with this job there will always be a degree of uncertainty. But I promise you that whatever happens, no matter how broken you may feel, I will always put you back together."

After those few words Emily's entire face lit up, because in that moment she knew that in spite of what had transpired, everything was going to be okay. Simply because they were Emily and JJ, and that's all the explanation she needed.

**A final chapter (epilogue) is coming but I am working on an unrelated Emily/JJ storyline with a ton of angst and flashbacks set in season 7. It might also feature a major character death, but I'm still debating that though...****Tell me in the reviews if I should stick with that idea or if you'd like to see something else.**

**I'm doing a short epilogue that will feature the entire team which I will post soon. **

**Thank you for all the reads/reviews, it helps keep me on tract when I get other ideas. I tend to get sidetracked on other projects so I need reviews to keep me focused. Thanks again and check back soon for the conclusion. **


	15. Epilogue

**All good things must come to an end and I hope that this work qualifies as a 'good thing' that everyone enjoyed reading. **

**Faithful**** readers need not worry, even though I didn't ****update as regularly as I should have, I would never just forget about a story. **

**Anyway, thanks for all the support and here's our Emily/JJ epilogue. **

**Enjoy it for now because the next story might not be as happy...**

8 Months Later

The past few months had been difficult at times, with JJ struggling to get Emily to finally open up about what had happened in that La Honda basement. However, after a few weeks, yes weeks, of persistence JJ finally was able to get through to her girlfriend. It hadn't been ideal and neither one of them would ever want it to happen again, but the couple did find that the experience brought them closer together. It helped strengthen the bonds of trust and communication. Communication that led to a special announcement they made one night while out with the rest of the team. An announcement that concluded a conversation that began the morning before the team had left for that fateful case in San Francisco.

"So you're going to help us right?" Emily asked Morgan with a pointed look as she carried a pitcher of beer to the table where JJ, Garcia, Morgan, and Reid were sitting. Hotch and Rossi had already left almost an hour before.

The team had just finished up a case in Atlanta where Emily had to go undercover and flirt with a sleazy pick up artist. Needless to say, JJ was not too enthused about the development and had made the case tough on her girlfriend. As a result, Emily wanted a little time to unwind with her friends before heading home. _Home._ After months of slowly bringing most of her things over to Emily's apartment, JJ had decided that it was time to put her house on the market and officially designate which items to store and which to give away. The time had come to fully commit to Emily's D.C. apartment. Emily had the bright idea to just throw all the extra belongings away, an idea which had thoroughly upset her blonde girlfriend. Which is why they found themselves buying the group of agents a round of drinks in the crowded D.C. bar. They needed movers, because even though Emily loved JJ with all her heart, JJ was a collector, much like an elderly woman with her various knick-knacks and paddy whacks.

Morgan shrugged as he poured himself another beer, "Princess we both know that your woman is a hoarder and after opening Pandora's box with that one we'll be moving her crap for the next twelve years" he teased as JJ scowled.

"That is so not true" JJ defended as she looked to Emily for support, with the brunette avoiding eye contact. "Emily" JJ warned as Emily cringed.

"Hmm?" The profiler asked as she gulped down her beer, trying to avoid the glare she was receiving from her girlfriend.

"Do you think I'm a hoarder?"

"Here's the thing…" Emily drifted off as JJ playfully smacked her arm.

"You're supposed to always support me."

"And I do" Emily claimed as she raised her arms in surrender. "I just love so you so much that I don't want to ignore your addiction" she added as JJ scoffed and Morgan started chuckling, happy that his point had been made.

"See" Morgan argued as he laughed and pointed to Emily. "What if we just cut our loses and set the whole place on fire?" he suggested as JJ rolled her eyes and turned to Garcia, flashing the technical analyst her best set of puppy dog eyes.

"Pen please…"

"I don't see how you ever say no to that face" Garcia cooed to JJ as she looked over to Emily who was shaking her head.

"Don't encourage her."

"Well buttercup I will help you and so will my chocolate Adonis" Garcia firmly commanded as she shot Morgan a glare. "Anyway how did you decide to move into Gumdrop's place? I thought that this point of contention was only second to the great Grey's Anatomy-ER debate of '05?"

"I think I just got accustomed to a certain way of living" JJ confessed in a matter of fact tone as the table started laughing.

"She's only dating me for my money obviously" Emily sarcastically stated as JJ kissed her temple.

"Well that and your body" the blonde teased before getting somewhat serious. "Okay so we have an announcement for you guys" she began excitedly as she nodded for Emily to further clarify.

"We're getting a cat" Emily exclaimed excitedly before noticing the disappointed looks on her friends' faces. "What?"

Morgan scratched his head as he answered his partner, "It was just a lot of buildup for a cat. I mean it's a cat, you made it sound important."

"It'll be our cat though" Emily replied as Garcia pounded the table.

"The next time you psych us up like that you better damn well be telling us that you knocked up buttercup" Garcia ordered as Reid got a perplexed look on his face.

"In actuality, biologically that is impossible. Unless…" he drifted off as he looked to Emily with wide eyes.

"Oh my God!" Emily scolded as she softly hit the blushing genius while the rest of the team erupted into a fit of laughter. "Finish that thought and die Reid. Go on and just see" Reid merely gulped and nodded in reply as Emily rolled her eyes. "You are all the worst" she huffed as JJ rubbed her arm.

"They're helping us move so just shut it" JJ playfully ordered, making Emily frown.

"You know what? I don't need any of you, I'm going to call Viper" Emily threatened as the table laughed at the empty threat.

"Yeah like that'll happen" JJ responded in a sarcastic tone. "We all know you have a thing for hot blondes, not whatever _that_ was."

"She's got you there Emster" Garcia agreed as Emily winked over to JJ.

"Well I guess we have another announcement for you vultures" JJ began as she pointed to the beer on the table. "If you might have noticed I have not had any of that tonight and while we were working that case some might have considered me a little…"

"Jealous."

"Scary."

"Insane."

"Horrible."

Emily, Reid, Garcia, and Morgan filled in as JJ glared at them.

"I was going to say hormonal you jerks. Do you all really want to piss off a pregnant lady?" JJ inquired with a small smile as she crossed her arms across her chest, prompting Morgan to pat Emily on the back and flash a wide grin to JJ.

"Aaaahhhh! I'M SO EXCITED!" Garcia loudly exclaimed, garnering the attention of half the bar who turned to stare at her. "I'm sorry but I just found out I'm having a baby!" She informed them with a squeal as they all shared a confused look. What kind of person took a pregnancy test at a bar? Was she homeless or something? Did she not have access to any other bathrooms?

"You do realize that you cannot have our baby right?" Emily clarified as Morgan gave her a hug. "This is not your baby. Repeat after me, 'I will not try to steal the Prentiss-Jareau baby.'"

"Now who's the worst" Garcia huffed as Emily shifted to better hug Morgan as JJ and Reid shared a hug before Garcia joined them. "This is just the best news ever! Okay names…what if we give it Prentiss as a first name, Beatrice or Beckett as a middle name and Jareau as a last name? Then it can be PBJ! That'll be ador-able! Oh my God, we have to start baby proofing now. Have you started yet? You haven't have you? We need to get to work now! Oh my God breath Garcie, we can do this, we can do this. We'll protect our baby. Now Gumdrop this is your duty, or do you want your baby to be poked in the eye? What if it cuts itself? My God how could you be so irresponsible?!" Garcia rambled as JJ and Emily shared a look.

Emily chuckled as she pinned a strand of hair behind her girlfriend's ear, "Am I having a stroke?"

JJ laughed as she intertwined her hand with Emily's "You better not be because you're stuck with me for another 18 years, at least."

"At least" Emily reiterated as the two shared a soft kiss, with Morgan trying to calm a babbling Garcia and Reid still utterly confused by the news.

It may not have been "traditional," but these were their people. This quirky group consisted of the people who they trusted more than anyone else, who they trusted with their lives. This was their team, their family. And their family was about to get a little bigger and a bit more insane.

But whoever said that insanity was a bad thing?

**The End.**

* * *

**Thank you for all of your reviews, follows, and favorites. It truly makes the writing experience more fun.**

**At the moment I'm finishing up an Emily/OC story and outlining an Emily/JJ storyline which is filled with drama, angst, and emotional pain, which is why I wanted to give a happy ending this time. The next work may or may not include a character death, I haven't decided yet. However, if I do include it, don't let it put you off because it won't affect most of the storyline. **

**Anyway, thanks again and let me know in the reviews what you'd like to see in ****the next Emily/JJ story. If it fits into what I'm working with I might include it. **


End file.
